Youth

I remember all too clearly
Some days from my youth
No, not the time spent
In someone's company
Actually not in their company
If you know what I mean,
But some other days
Actually far too few days
To recount some
My mind goes back
Recalling my visit to JNU
Where a friend was studying
(Himadeep, now a prof at Vassar)
Another friend was there, too
(AV Satish Chandra, gold medalist
At JNU in pol sci).

I remember the student elections
Had gotten underway at JNU
That guy from Bihar
Contesting for president
Spoke in just chaste Hindi
That the southerner in me
Was quite charmed,
And I heard him 
Sitting beside my friend
And his classmates
Some of whom were girls
Who seemed more at ease
Those Delhi girls
Than those from my hometown.

I remember banging my head
Between the two eyebrows
Against the drum, at JNU,
When I bent in to take water
And injuring myself
And being young
I wondered if that would leave a scar
Ruining thus my chances
Of a girl ever dating me
And my friend was exasperated
Said he,
"First treat that injury
Stop thinking all that."
Now I tell myself
It is just that scar
Which made all the girls
Down the years
Hesitate
Yes, just that,
And not my personality 
Or overall looks
That for me
Was the real dialectical materialism
In my life.

Then there was Varun(?)
Hima's classmate
A slightly fat guy
And hence his nickname enugu
Who was the topper
Who went on to do
PhD from Oxford
On some scholarhsip (Rhodes or Inlaks?)
And I smiled at him
From across the dining table
Having breakfast
(God, so much chapati and dal).

Then those teas under the trees---
I do not recall, but
Surely they must have been discussing
Marx
And some waiting for the library to open
Those Civil Services aspirants.

Then staying some days
On that Delhi trip
Way back in 1986
At Narasimha's place
Who was in the law school
And Sanjay was there, too,
Little could I know
Both would go on
To becoming Supreme Court judges
(Shh, forget I said that,
They do not want the public to know
They are my friends
Lest someone curry their favour)
And the law school back then
Was a pretty vibrant place
Plus, Sanjay and I
Took a photo
In front of the supreme court
Which photo I have since torn up
In one of those moods
When I do not value anything in life.