Memories

It’s Saturday evening and I find myself feeling like I’m right back to my university days. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’ve decided to have a rare late night.

Yellow lights. Check.
Good Music. Check.
Solitude. Check.

All of a sudden, I had New Slang playing and I found myself let out a ‘Gosh’ inadvertently.

The song transported me for a few moments to some great memories of nights with friends, huddled up together in a small dorm room, listening to music and talking about stuff late into the night. The stuff varied between philosophy, movies, TV shows and random topics of conversation. This typically ended at 5am in the morning culminating in the traditionally awesome breakfast from McDonalds. There were many many instances when we would somehow keep ourselves awake till 3:45AM to place our Mcbreakfast order..

There were a handful of such nights during those magical 4 years. They typically happened either at the start of the semester, during the first half of the mid semester break or post examinations and every one of them was great. A few, of course, were special.

One such special night came to mind as I respectfully searched for ‘Love story meets viva la vida’. August 8, 2009. One such memory where we exchanged many great songs. I saw the famous Al Pacino ‘Any Given Sunday‘ speech for the first time on this night. I’ve used that many many times. I heard many great songs, one of them being ‘Good Bad Ugly‘ by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. I remember that night vividly.

But, the most important song of them all was this masterpiece.

This song became the defining song of that first semester of the final year of university for a bunch of us. And every time I listen to this song, all those memories flash by.

I saw this wonderful quote today – One day your life will flash by in front of your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

The quote made a lot of sense, especially in the context of this memory. When our lives flash by in front of our eyes, we often see flashes of the best memories, great moments with friends and family..

I had so many of such memories during my 4 years in university that I felt I took them for granted. They are much harder to come by now. They take a lot of work, organization and luck with timing. Those were simpler times.

On the upside, December is coming. And that means some precious time with framily. I am hopeful there will be a couple of such great nights in store for us. I’m working hard to make it happen.

But, such nights.. well, define life and happiness in many ways, don’t they?

And the best part is  – I, sure as hell, am not taking these for granted anymore.

Just the thought of these times ahead fills me with energy and optimism.

Life is good. And I am thankful.