Life is not a race. Do take it slower.

Four years. Yes, that must be the period after which I opened this carton that contained all my 'relics' of M.Tech. Only few days back I had brought it down from the store to my room so that I could filter important things from it and give the rest to Anokhilal, the guy who buys scrap from us. I had completely forgotten what I had put in it and was doubtful to find anything interesting either. But I was wrong. I can say that because after I had finally separated required from unwanted - barring few envelopes, printed lecture slides, thesis draft of the girl who I used to date at that time (and who I don't want to remember anymore), medical files of all the doctors I had visited during those two years of post graduation and certain bills - everything else had some or the other tidbit tagged to it and couldn't be thrown away. Question papers of exams that I appeared for, marked answer sheets (we were given back those after evaluation), print outs of numerous published papers from IEEE and ACM with colours of my highlighters (that I still have in my drawer) and side notes that had occassional presence of sketches that I must have made to kill the boredom created by certain really convoluted and dry papers. A beautiful alarm watch that I had used in the first year to wake up and prepare for early morning exams. A cute devil it was. The box that contained my first digital camera when mom gifted it to me on my birthday. Along with box, there was this photo which was taken using the same camera right at the shop by its owner and was gifted to us. Packing of my first CD player responsible for those countless hours that I had spent listening to FM and MP3s while working and before dozing off on my hostel bed. There was this case that contained my Nokia 2100 when I had purchased it. My first one that I got immediately after arriving at college, to be in touch with my parents. Unlike today's students, I didn't have the privilege of having cell during graduation. Then there were pencils - sharpened, blunt, unused, short, thick, plastic, wooden - that I used to carry with me everytime along with some or the other paper that we had to finish before next day's lecture. There were surprise test papers, which were called 'pop quiz' there. Quite an apt name because these quizzes used to literally pop out from nowhere. I was amazed when I saw that these papers had my answers inline displaying the total marks I scored, in that ominous circle divided by a line in the center that separates ideal from real. If some of these made me smile with pride, other prompted me to bury them deep, sheepishly. I found my thesis proposal that I had submitted at the end of third semester. All the rough papers that I had used to develop the prototype and the final version of the executable to prove what I had proposed.

Time stood still, when my eyes fell upon the printed slides of the final presentation that I made in DA-IICT, lying amidst all others papers. My final presentation was in front of the panel who had to judge my work and decide whether I was eligible to be awarded with degree or should be retained for some more time to finish things to their satisfaction. Suddenly, I was there in my college. In my guide's cabin. The moment when I was told that my thesis had been approved and that I was Master of Technology officially. I still remember how I breathed everything around me after that day, as if I wanted to capture everything that the institute had provided me in those two years. The days had passed real fast, and I distinctly remember my last day in hostel, packing all my belongings and stowing them in a carton...the same carton that I opened today after more than thousand days. Life passed away very quickly. And in that rush, I completely forgot about these things that built my days few years back. Among the few quotes that I had written in a pad found in the same carton, I came across one which prompted me to write something about these small, ordinary and inexpensive things for others but precious to me because they remind me of the two beautiful years of my life in Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology...

"Time is short. The music won't last.
You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.

When you speed so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day
It is like an unopened gift...thrown away.

Life is not a race. Do take it slower.
Hear the music before the song is over."