March 1 : Traditional Day

I had never ever worn a traditional outfit in my life. NEVER. Not even for family functions. And I never attended traditional days in junior college. Hence today, for the first time ever, I'm wearing a traditional outfit, thanks to Rohit, from whom I borrowed it. And I must confess, the only reason why I never wore traditional clothes - they are too uncomfortable- proved to be false.
I am one of the lucky guys at the hostel who managed to get hold of a traditional outfit. The others, notably my classmate Rishikesh Baviskar, had to stay back at the hostel wearing a disappointed look. Hence I was pretty happy when I slipped on my Kurta when I realised that it had no buttons. This led to panic - I was soon running all over the hostel searching for spare buttons, but they were nowhere to be found. Then I asked one of my friends whether he had a safety pin. The confused look on his face said it all - a safety pin???? How the hell would I have a safety pin? But I was determined to attend college and continued my search for the elusive pin or button or rather anything which would help me out. Then came divine intervention. Another one of my friends emptied his pockets and out popped a safety pin. Despite consequent investigation the origins of the pin are still obscure. But it WAS a pin & it was there for the taking & I grabbed it with both hands. Soon I was on my way to college.
The atmosphere at the Boat Club was amazing. I had never seen so many people there. Some students had taken the idea of traditional day a bit too seriously & hence there was a bullock cart outside the BC, loaded with students in traditional outfits playing Dholaks. And along with the traditional music there was also another kind of music - a DJ was playing at the BC. This was the first time I'd seen a DJ perform in any college, but then COEP is a great college after all so one should expect the unexpected. And the DJ gig soon became a regular feature - he surfaced at the the BC 4 times that week.
And now comes another first. I had never danced in public. NEVER. But the music was inviting & the fact that everybody else was dancing was even more so. Soon I joined the bandwagon & started swinging to the music. Hell it was fun. And the fun soon grew, when Rishikesh & other friends of mine came to the party. They had totally failed to obtain a traditional outfit - even the guy who rents sherwanis at the hostel(yes there is such a guy, great business sense I must say) had run out of them. But then somehow they got hold of the white caps worn by Muslims & came to the BC wearing those. The fact that they wore T-shirts & Jeans & also that none of them was Muslim was inconsequential. They joined me & we all had a blast, dancing like we'd never danced before.
Those who know me know that I never drink soft drinks, except on rare occasions. Well, today was one such occasion. After dancing for almost an hour and a half, I was drenched with sweat from top to bottom. In such a condition a soft drink is hard to resist & I gave in to the temptation.
Soon it all ended. The DJ packed up & left. I left too, & along with my E & TC classmates went out to eat after which I returned to the hostel. The eating out has to be a peculiarity of our group. If all of us happen to be free, we always end up going out to eat. This means that we have eaten at almost all the restaurants on JM & FC roads. This coupled with the fact that I'm a hostelite means that I have a lot of meals in hotels. If this continues, at the end of 4 years, you can expect a book from me titled 'Restaurants in Pune'. Till then, make do with this blog.