Nostalgia....How far one has come...

well think tht i ended one of my prev post with 'nostalgia'...'n this time 'm starting with it.
It all began, when me 'n my school friends decided to meet up after a long time. That itself, wasn't that nostalgic as we do meet up occasionally, but it had all to do with where we decided to meet, at our school days' meet point - 'IIWc': Indian Institute of World Culture. For da uninitiated, its a library from da bygone era, located in Basavangudi, another locality which has fallen prey to commercialism 'n all that which comes with it. You have high-rise glass-facade complexes springing up where small shops used to be. The charm 'n character of the place is almost gone. Though some old places like 'Vidhyarthi Bhavan' 'n IIWc are still bravely holding against the New.

Yea...coming back to IIWc, it was such a pleasure to see that nothing had changed. You still have two dark wood, imposing doors guarding da entrance. It was nice to see that even da display paintings @ da hallway hadn't been replaced. The large wooden tables, chairs, where many a days i had spent reading, dreaming, observing the old men who used to come there to read newspapers, waiting for my friends...all that was exactly da way it was before, except for my absence. The feeling was very much akin to da feeling of coming back home 'n seeing that your room is still da way you left it. Well myself havent experienced any such strong 'coming back home' feelings, but 'm sure thats da way it wud feel... :)

Well so much for nostalgia for all da things that were. My friend made an intersting observation about 'things that were' 'n 'things as they are'. She just remarked, how these days, you go to any coffee day, barista...you will see lot of school kids 'n how in our days, most often we just hung around @ each other's place, roam around gandhi bazaar, weekly trip to IIWc for renewing books 'n Mag, then goto JP's for pani-puri...May be 'coz @ tht time coffee-day was still non-existent. :)
Its said that each coming generation, becomes aware faster, so prob its no wonder that we are seeing this. But still feel its an unhealthy trend...how da reading habit is almost becoming a rarity instead of a norm, how kids have to deal with more peer-pressure, how they are getting more alienated from their roots, culture....'n most imp how they are losing their innocence so soon.

well have bob dylan's song 'things have changed' song running in my head now.
"People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed"

guess not only things, but me too have changed. Bought a 'Tommy Hilfiger' watch today. Something which i wud have laughed @ if someone had suggested it a few years back. Just goes to show how much things 'n one's view point can change o'er time. How far have i come...