INT. KAMBLI’S ROOM (RAVINDRA) - NIGHT

ANGAD KAMBLI, 21, sits on his bed staring at his laptop. The room is dimly lit by a tube light right above where Kambli sits. The bed is moved to the center of the room below a fan that continues to be the only source of ambient noise in the scene other than the frequently pausing noise of typing. The room is in disarray, empty bottles of mineral water clutter the room. The bed being in the middle adds to the chaos of this space. There are fairy lights, blue and lavender on the left of where Kambli sits. Kambli scratches his beard before unlocking his phone and opening WhatsApp. “Arre woh memoir ka structure ig figure out kr liya meine.” He messages a guy named “Nishanth Deku”. He follows back with another message : “Aaj try krta hu kuch kuch likhne ka fir kal snippets sunaunga.” He locks the screen and keeps the phone beside him before opening a new Google Doc on his laptop. The camera now focuses on his laptop screen as he types : “INT. KAMBLI’S ROOM (RAVINDRA) - NIGHT” The camera slowly pans to Kambli’s face as he looks away from the screen, lost in thought. Finally in focus, Kambli’s face slowly darkens as the screen fades to black.

The song “Yaadon ki baarat” plays in the background, seemingly from a car stereo.

ON BLACK:
Text appears on screen:
A MEMOIR
ACT 1 : REELING FROM CHANGE

CUT TO:
EXT. IIT ROORKEE MAIN GATE - DAY
ABHAY KAMBLI looks out of the window of a cab as it comes to a stop at the main gate of IIT Roorkee. The driver sitting besides him presses a button on the car stereo and the song comes to a halt mid-sentence at : “Yaadon ki baraat nikali hai aaj dil ke dwaa-” A security guard walks to the car.

ABHAY
New admission hai - Orientation.

ANGAD, 17, takes out his phone from the window and shows it to the guard. He is sitting behind ABHAY and beside him, sits SONAL KAMBLI.

ANGAD
Haanji, ye dekho. Aaj orientation jaisa kuch hai na?

GUARD
Haan, MAC chale jao.

The guard steps back as he lets the car pass by. We see the car drive into the campus as the camera slowly moves to a higher elevation, more and more of the institute now visible - lush trees, a fountain, a church and a building that resembles an airplane hangar now in view while the car is now a miniscule character traversing this rather large set piece.

Voiceover:
I don’t react well to change. Quite apparent from my first day at IIT Roorkee.

CUT TO:
INT. KAMBLI’S ROOM (RAJENDRA) - DAY

ANGAD sits on a chair in the corner of a dusty room scrolling his phone. ABHAY is busy inspecting the curtains on the window beside the door which are the only dash of color in a room with white walls and green highlights. SONAL enters the room and sits on the bed which is flush with the wall.

SONAL
It’s so humid here. And we thought it might be better because it’s Uttarakhand.

ABHAY
It’s worse than Mumbai.

ANGAD looks up, distressed. ABHAY hasn’t seemed to notice it and continues.

ABHAY
It’s good that we brought these curtains. Else we might have had to buy new ones here.

ANGAD swallows, his distress clearly rising. He opens his mouth for a while before speaking. It’s one of those times when you are sure that if you speak one word more, you’ll break into tears. With his throat paining with an impending sobbing session, ANGAD croaks out.

ANGAD
Tumhi lok nighnar na aaj? You folks will go today, right?

I’ll be all alone after that.
As the first drop of tear quickly leaps from his eyes to the cheeks, he rapidly makes a to and fro motion with his hands motioning his mom (SONAL) to close the door lest someone sees him crying. The camera moves out of the room focused on Angad as his mom takes a moment to process the sudden outburst and closes the door. Detached from the room, the camera now pans to reveal Rajendra Bhawan’s A Block with all of its hustle of new inmates. Parents and students move to and fro with buckets, mattresses, brooms, suitcases and a number of varied items. We wonder how many coming-of-age stories shall see their start here, for these stories were clearly on-hold for JEE. But we are focused on just one of them today and so,

Voiceover:
If someone would have said that, leaving campus would be difficult - the faccha Angad bawling his eyes out because his parents were not gonna be with him the next day would have laughed out loud. For the first day I spent on campus was constantly spent with me thinking, “How in the seven hells am I going to spend four freaking years here?” - The morning after my first night in Rajendra, I woke up to the realization that I’ll now have to use a public washroom. My pretentious self thought of posting lines from Faiz’s Subah-E-Aazadi on my Instagram story : “Ye daag daag ujala, yeh shab gazida seher. Ye woh seher toh nahi jiski aarju le kar chale the yaar ki mil jaaegi kahi na kahi.”
How funny is it then, that these four years which seemed so massive to that Angad - are the same four years which Kambli looks back on and feels, “Damn, these flew by pretty fast.” Presently, a lot of conversations with my peers center around the topic of our imminent demise from this campus and I find myself settling into kind of a melancholic acceptance : “Issi contract pe aaye the na ki chaar saal hi rahenge? Fir abhi kis baat ki BT hai?” But logic fails to work where emotions are clearly stronger and I wonder if things will ever be as good if not the same.
This place gave me a lot of things; knowledge, exposure, opportunities, experience, stories, confidence, and a number of other tangible and intangible things. But out of all - the one thing that I’ll treasure the most is the people I met and the relationships I forged with them over these years. And I’m grateful for them.

Also, quick side-note but this is going to be more like an Imtiaz Ali script in terms of chronology - we shall be making time jumps in order to tackle different themes one at a time. I hope this turns out just as I am envisioning it in my head.

Screen slowly fades to black.

Text appears on screen:
ACT 2 : SDSLabs
CUT TO:
INT. LECTURE HALL COMPLEX (LHC) - DAY

KAMBLI, 18, walks out of a hall along with a crowd of students after what seems like the end of a lecture. His phone is ringing and he picks up.

VOICE ON PHONE
Angad? Angad Kambli?

KAMBLI
Yes, speaking?

VOICE ON PHONE
Umm - could you come to Labs this evening, around 7? For an interview?

KAMBLI (smile breaking on face)
Yeah - Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.

KAMBLI happily tells AYUSH GUPTA and CHIRAG WADHWA this information as their voices slowly merge into the cacophony of the crowd of first yearites all making their way to Rajendra or Sarojini Bhawan. The camera tracks KAMBLI as the voiceover takes over.

Voiceover:

I still remember getting the call from Labs just as I walked out of a lecture. The feeling was one of relief. We tend to attach our value to results rather than the work put in. And so, it’s pretty nerve-wracking to have all possible candidates on your Bhawan floor and in your circle get a call but not you. I had accepted the loss and had already had calls with my parents where they were like, “No issues, it’s not a big deal anyways. It’s just a group.” But to have participated in Syntax Error, having submitted a project in Makers and having performed (according to me) pretty well in the recruitment test and still not getting a call seemed like a big deal to me. I was quick to traverse the spiral of doubt and distress - analyzing all small things where I might have gone wrong. And so, the interview call was followed by a sigh of relief.
I got into Labs. And for better or for worse, it influenced a majority of my campus life. The people I met, the activities I participated in, the stories I have - all are shaped by the rather towering presence of SDSLabs. My SDSLabs’ experience in first year was limited to a few lectures and their corresponding assignments. Just as I was getting comfortable with Labs, its people, owning the physical space that it represented - the pandemic quickly put a pause on everything. I took my sweet time to get comfortable with the online modes of communication and it was in 3rd Year when I finally started chatting freely in random meet calls. The dichotomy of sitting in my home’s balcony(which with its curtains and windows had become a make-shift room for me in the lockdown) and talking on a meet call to people miles away seemed very awkward and artificial to me until very late.
Over the course of these four years, I have participated in Labs in various ways. We started work on Outrun Chase as a part of some hackathon and then brought this baby into Labs and made it a Labs’ project. This little game of ours then went on to be showcased at GodotCon. Outrun Chase was majorly responsible for breaking the lull that was brought by the pandemic where I was doing pretty much nothing. It fuelled my love for this cute open source engine called Godot in which I ended up doing my GSoC that summer. Godot Engine was then used by me to make a number of games inside and outside of Labs.
The (unofficial) trips that we organized while sitting at home due to the pandemic as a part of Labs became the saving grace for me as they allowed me to have some form of human contact in the season of isolation. We went to Alibaug, then Udaipur and then Alibaug again - each replete with a lot of memories when I look back. My Labs experience is much more than the work I did there. It’s the people I found, the stories I heard and the memories I made.
When I look back, I can see how influential this place has been in shaping my experiences, the nice and the not so nice ones too. It has its set of problems - a few that I tried solving in my final year, a few that I am finding out while getting ready to leave - but none that can’t be solved by a will to do so and a little bit of philosophy sprinkled in.

Screen slowly fades to black.
Text appears on screen:
ACT 3 : Kshitij
CUT TO:
INT. KSHITIJ ROOM (SAC 3rd Floor) - NIGHT

KAMBLI awkwardly looks at his phone, scrolling and searching for something. People are spread out in the room, some are practicing their slam pieces outside the room. Some are involved in a discussion. Some are just engrossed in their phones.

SHACHI
Does anyone have a piece that they want to perform?

KAMBLI(timidly raising a finger as he walks ahead, head still in his phone)
Me. I had written this just before the pandemic. I guess you can decide if it’s any good...

SHACHI
Okay, sure. Go ahead.

KAMBLI looks up, phone still in his hand. He starts his performance. His volume slowly increases as people turn to look.

KAMBLI
Okay.
I dont know if this is going to be a poem, a writeup or even a f****** limerick.
I'm putting line breaks wherever I want so I think this will be a poem.

CUT TO:
INT. BIOTECH AUDI - EVENING

KAMBLI is performing on the stage, a halogen focused on him as he performs the poem which seamlessly continues from the last scene but skipped to its end. It is Eunoia 2022.

KAMBLI
Also weird is the fact that I started this poem or whatever the hell it is referring to you in third person and somewhere switched to second person. Yeah, you being one person too away was unbearable.
Alas.
Shit.

KAMBLI walks back from the microphone as the poem ends. He presses his hands together as the audience starts clapping. The camera slowly moves back as the claps slowly fade and the screen transitions to the next scene.

TRANSITION TO:
INT. LECTURE HALL (IIT MADRAS) - DAY

KAMBLI is performing in front of a lecture hall - he has chosen to not use the microphone and just loudly perform his lines. A portion of Kshitij’s Inter-IIT contingent sits in the audience, a few of them recording him with his camera.

KAMBLI
I feel you in the cold of the winter as it bites my skin and I think how blessed I am that you - have decided to come and tease me.
I wish I could be with you and hold your hands and look into your eyes and hold your hands and hold your hands and... Uff.

CUT TO:
INT. BIOTECH AUDI - EVENING

KAMBLI is performing on the stage, a phone in his hand. The halogen is missing this time, and the lighting is provided by the existing lights in the auditorium. It is Eunoia 2023.

KAMBLI
Time is finally catching up on its triathlon bike.
You take a final sip of the coffee and ask if we should leave.
I say, sure.
Sure, time's catching up.
But I'm still gonna run.
Cause if I get just a moment more with you, that's enough. In a different world, maybe we'd have spent all eternity in that café - society crumbling and history being written and forgotten around us as we sat in that café, clutching our coffee cups.
But in this life, as time catches up, just a moment more with you, that's enough.
KAMBLI moves back from the microphone and presses his hands together as the audience breaks into applause. He waits comparatively longer than expected as the applause continues. Maybe he’s thinking about the fact that this is the last Eunoia he’ll be performing at, at least as a student - the metaphorical coffee’s finally over, time’s catching up on its triathlon bike. He slowly walks to the corner of the stage as VANSH hugs him and ASHISH goes to the anchor’s microphone to say something about KAMBLI. As KAMBLI walks down the stage and towards his seat in the front row, he looks into the camera and starts talking, breaking the fourth wall as if this is an episode of Fleabag.

KAMBLI
This was fun. I mean - last year’s Eunoia (Kshitij’s English Slam Poetry Event) was one of the best things to have happened to me in these four years. It increased my confidence in this form of expression and also as a writer. The boost of validation that comes with performing that has people in the audience hooked to every line you say - eliciting reactions from them at places you expected and even at places you didn’t is really amazing. In a conversation with someone recently, they mentioned their surprise regarding my performance in the duet piece with Vansh where I pretty much danced on stage as he read out a poem generated by ChatGPT. And to be honest, I kinda love the person that I am on stage. I have this thing where I feel like the most awkward thing I can do on stage is be awkward and so, on-stage I am the most confident, extroverted and maybe even a loud version of myself. I am really grateful to Kshitij for helping me discover this part of me.
If I had to objectively point out one thing that I could change in my four years of campus, it would be my amount of involvement in Kshitij. In my first year, after Kshitij’s English Editorial Chapo at Prakash (one of the only two times I have eaten at Prakash), we were walking back when Nikhil Kaushik (better known to me as Codzilla because of Labs) took me aside to talk. He was in CSE, I was too; He was in Kshitij, I was too. He was in Labs, I was going to be in it. I don’t know what made him sense it or was it just a random piece of advice but he said something along the lines of how people usually spend all of their time in technical clubs while ignoring their cultural interests and would advise me against doing so. I didn’t pay much heed to his advice at that time but looking back, I understand where he was coming from. But I guess, some things are learnt only by experience. That being said, there aren’t any major regrets because I believe I have been pretty involved in Kshitij post Eunoia 2022 and more so post Inter-IIT.
Coming to Inter-IIT, getting a bronze in Slam was definitely a major source of validation for me and also, a nice way to soften the incoming wounds of not getting any medal in Inter-IIT Tech. Inter-IIT gave me the opportunity to interact with a lot of Kshitij juniors and was instrumental in me making some connections that I will be in contact with surely for a long time.
I look at the juniors and a lot of them have a lot of ideas for Kshitij and I hope to see them being accomplished in the coming years. Attending Eunoia in the following years might be one of the few events that I’d love to revisit the campus for.

KAMBLI is distracted by people starting to clap around him. Another performance must have just finished and he joins in on the clapping. The camera slowly focuses on his face as the scene cuts to the next on the sound of a mobile notification.

CUT TO:
INT. KAMBLI’S ROOM (RAVINDRA) - NIGHT
We cut back to KAMBLI’s face as his phone pings with a notification sound. He looks at his phone. It’s 6:30 AM already. He yawns, closes his laptop and gets up.

ACT 4 : REELING FROM IMMINENT CHANGE
Above text appears on the screen as KAMBLI puts his phone in his pocket as he gets ready to go to the night canteen. Voiceover starts as he makes his way to the tapri, orders a veg maggi (extra spicy) and sits on a swing installed near the canteen.

Voiceover:

It’s people. It’s mostly just people. And maybe a little bit of this place that I’ll miss. Because this place, with all its idiosyncrasies, its systems and its culture is what made it conducive for me to find such amazing people. I’ll miss going on late night walks with friends - randomly popping into someone’s room to talk to them - having people randomly pop into yours. The campus provided very easy distractions in the face of BT and this is something I’m surely going to miss. A few days back, I was talking to someone and they said they are leaving on 6th May - just after the ETEs and this brought with it the realization that the conversation I was having with this person might just be the last one I am having with them. And all of that facade of acceptance regarding my imminent demise from campus came crumbling down as I had this junior consoling me how we’ll still keep meeting, how I’ll still come to the campus occasionally. But how much ever I hope it will be the same, it won't be right? I mean, isn’t it scary that there’s such a profoundly major change just looming on our head? I’ll soon be going into the real world. A world with no semesters, no ETEs, no assignments - nothing to worry about. Nothing other than a job and the aspirations you have regarding your career. In the real world, you are kinda free. And freedom does feel kinda scary.
I know I don’t deal with change nicely. The profound nature of this imminent one is much scarier than any previous change. The only thing preventing me from spiraling is the fact that I am just postponing the phase where I agonize over the change until I actually leave campus. The fact remains that I know absolutely nothing about what fate has in store for me and so, the least I can do is be a little hopeful. I shall quote something I read on Instagram that might not be very deep but is something that you’ll find in my recent Instagram captions and also something I say a lot these days in conversations of this sort - “If you can’t be hopeful about the future, being curious also works.”
And though I do not believe that what I advise would be different from anything anyone else says, here goes my piece of advice for the juniors reading this: Start asking yourself what you want to be, not just in terms of career but also in the larger scheme of things - try to philosophize a little and figure out what your aspirations are. Try to actually understand who you are and what you want to be. I’d be lying if I said I have answers to all these questions myself but still - pondering over these questions has provided me with inklings of an answer.
Four years are too long and too short at the same time. Make the most of them while you are here. A lot of things that might seem like the end of the world now would feel really irreverent in hindsight and so, always be open to new experiences, opportunities and taking decisions that might help you lead a campus life more in line with what you actually want to do. The campus is a small world in itself and there’s no chance you will try out everything this place has to offer but still, explore everything as much as you can. Say more ‘yes’s in general. This campus is full of randomness - academics, group activities, events and a number of other variables lead to a rather unpredictable day-to-day life, embrace this. Embrace randomness.

CANTEEN GUY
Bhaiya, Veg Maggi!

KAMBLI
Hanji bhaiya!

KAMBLI gets up from the swing, takes the maggi and sits back again. The sunrise has started and the sky has started to light up. He stares off into the horizon, wondering how this is one of the last sunrises he’ll see in Roorkee. The camera again focuses on his face as we quickly cut to a montage of numerous seemingly random scenes. Rawal, Encore ABJ and Bharg’s Magan (https://open.spotify.com/track/23xF0soBfOBZpzYFqHX9DX?si=df2839d19dff45bf) from the Sab Chahiye album plays in the background.

Text appears on screen:
ACT 5 : CORE MEMORIES
CUT TO:
INT. RAJENDRA BHAWAN, A BLOCK - DAY

KAMBLI is introduced to AYUSH GUPTA (soon to be known as just GUPTA) through a Gujarati mutual friend. AYUSH is from Surat and the Gujarati mutual friend from Mumbai - thus forming a common point of reference between both of them. AYUSH and KAMBLI shall go on to treat the friendship they have as a football, kicking it and throwing it in the air with no care or even pretense of care for it. And yet, it shall stand the test of time with them being friends right from the start up till the very end. It’s crazy how we meet people so similar so randomly - as if the laws of gravitation work differently based on how similar we are. When KAMBLI looks back on his four years, he’ll wonder how his core friend circle is made up of such similar people even though it seems like it was formed out of pure randomness.

CUT TO:
INT. SAC CANTEEN - NIGHT

KAMBLI sits at a table with PRAGYANSH, PRAKHAR, ISHAN and STUTI discussing their Inter-IIT tech meet’s game development problem statement. Though it’s doomed to come back without a podium finish, still it’s a product of love like every other thing they have worked on. KAMBLI looks into the camera seemingly bopping to Magan playing in the background and for a second, we feel like he’s breaking the fourth wall but we quickly cut to the next scene.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE PATH FROM THE CAMPUS GYM THAT JOINS THE ROAD IN FRONT OF THOMSO

KAMBLI walks with ROHITH towards Ravindra as they discuss life. They have been working on Quizio, Labs’ recruitment test platform since the last few weeks. It’s pretty late in the night and both of them are tired. Just as they are about to be in view of the Thomso building, a lady briskly walks backward beside them in a manner that is clearly not humane. Both of them keep walking forward as if nothing has happened. Both of them don’t address it nor look back until some time has passed. KAMBLI is sure that he has finally had a haunted experience which is soon to be debunked as senior citizens seem to have this thing for walking backwards as a part of their morning exercise routine.

CUT TO:
INT. RAVINDRA BHAWAN (VARUN AND MEET’S ROOM) - NIGHT

KAMBLI brings his laptop to VARUN’s room as AYUSH picks up the monitor from MEET’s. AYUSH, SHUBHAM, KAMBLI and VARUN settle on VARUN’s bed to watch Midsommar. Little does KAMBLI know that this seemingly irreverent horror movie that he’s about to watch is going to help him discover Ari Aster - a director he’s going to recommend to everyone in the coming years and follow his work with a passion previously reserved only for the rap duo - Seedhe Maut.

CUT TO:
EXT. UDAIPUR CITY PALACE - DAY

// yaha actual video aa sakta.
KAMBLI plays for the camera that PRAGYANSH is holding. We can hear PRAGYANSH talking in the background as he asks people random stuff on record. Some people play along while some are playfully irritated. KAMBLI’s happy to have found nice juniors on this trip.

EXT. UDAIPUR-AHMEDABAD ROAD - DAY

KAMBLI sits in a car with CHERRYL, SMITH, DIYA, MEET, STUTI as Magan plays on the stereo.

CUT TO:
EXT. UDAIPUR-AHMEDABAD ROAD - DAY

KAMBLI holds out his hand to DIYA as she sits beside him. He looks at her and has this realization that he has found a little sister in her. DIYA places her hand on his. KAMBLI looks at the camera and smiles.

CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD OUTSIDE COFFEE ROASTERS - NIGHT

KAMBLI is talking to his parents on a call. He looks into the camera and motions it to focus on the table outside the coffee roasters. Camera pans to show NISHANTH, MEET, STUTI, RIYA, SMITH and ISHAN sitting there, chatting. There’s food on the table. They are sitting there after having attended an event by choreo section at the convocation hall. The camera again pans to the right to show KAMBLI moving towards the stairs beside Coffee Roaster’s entrance. As he settles on the stairs, there’s a clear change in his expression - his carefree expression quickly gets an intense shade of... something. Even KAMBLI’s not sure what it is. Maybe some unresolved Pyar-Mohabbat BT has resurfaced all of a sudden. As the camera settles to focus on KAMBLI, with KAMBLI sitting right in front of it, still talking on the call, a fox appears in the frame and moves towards KAMBLI and sniffs his legs before trotting away. (Bhaisaab, I should have called this act ‘Wannabe Fleabag’ rather than ‘Core Memories’) KAMBLI seems undeterred as he continues the call with his parents - his expression still a little intense but slowly softening after the fox’s appearance.

CUT TO:
INT. TANISHA ROYAL HYDERABADI BIRYANI - EVENING

KAMBLI sits in Tanisha with NISHANTH and RIYA as they order Biryani, Chicken lollipops and Pepsi. The camera focuses on KAMBLI as he looks into the camera. He stays in the same place as we seamlessly cut into the next scene.

CUT TO:
INT. TANISHA ROYAL HYDERABADI BIRYANI - EVENING

KAMBLI sits in Tanisha with PRADNYA and PRATHAM as all of them are laughing. PRADNYA is shaking her head playfully stopping KAMBLI from recounting a particular story in front of PRATHAM. PRATHAM is sure that he’ll anyways mine the story from PRADNYA. KAMBLI picks up the last lollipop from the plate and dips it in schezwan sauce before starting to recount a story only for PRADNYA to again stop the retelling. Everyone laughs as KAMBLI gives a slight smile to the camera before we quickly transition to the next scene seamlessly.

CUT TO:
INT. TANISHA ROYAL HYDERABADI BIRYANI - EVENING

KAMBLI sits in Tanisha with VANSH, PRAGYANSH, GYANENDRA, ASHUTOSH and PARTH on New Year’s Eve 2023 - It’s the first time vegetarians(PRAGYANSH and VANSH) have come to Tanisha with KAMBLI and somehow enjoyed the Veg Biryani there. KAMBLI picks up a glass of Pepsi as he looks into the camera. Breaking the fourth wall - he talks to the camera again.

KAMBLI
Yes, we get it. I have come to Tanisha a lot and this might just be an advertisement for it at this point. But how do you not appreciate an actually decent Biryani that never disappoints? I guess we can move on now, though. The point’s made. I have come to Tanisha a lot over these years.

CUT TO:
INT. TRAIN RIDE FROM DELHI TO MADRAS - NIGHT

KAMBLI sits at the window seat of a 3A train that is going to take nearly 48 hours to reach Madras from Delhi. Pretty much the whole of IITR’s cult contingent is in this train giving a rather magical vibe to the whole thing. Train rides are something that KAMBLI romanticizes anyways but the fact that this one is filled with people he knows to the brim gives off heavy Polar Express vibes. KHUSHI sits at the window seat across from him. The late night scenery whizzes past the window as they are talking. She says something along the lines of “Ninni aa rahi hai.” and KAMBLI smiles immediately. In the future, he’s going to look back at this moment and wonder if this was the point when he realized that maybe there was another sister figure on the horizon. But is it really one single point ever? We try to think of our stories in such definite terms but they are shaped into something each time we reiterate them. Each reiteration adding new details and depth to moments. But then, what do we trust if not our memories - however plastic they might be to the forces of suggestion and imagination.

VANSH, SNEHA, PRABHAV, ASHISH and MADHUMITA are also sitting nearby as VANSH then launches into a ghost story about how he had some weird experiences in Kanha national park.

CUT TO:
EXT. ECE CIRCLE - NIGHT

KAMBLI has headphones on and is taking a stroll to clear his head when he gets a call. We can’t see who it is. All we can hear is a female voice saying “Statue.” Kambli stops in his tracks as he looks around.

KAMBLI
Kaha pe hai tu? I can’t see you anywhere.

FEMALE VOICE
Wait, I’m coming.

KAMBLI takes off his headphones as he notices KHUSHI walking towards him. KAMBLI then proceeded to walk with her for a few hours, time passing by without even making its passage known. The fact that he met someone he so relates to at the end of his college years does frustrate him but also makes him hopeful for all the people he’s yet to discover in his life. He wonders how life shall be in the future and how strange it feels that he shall be a stranger to his current self then. Surrounded by people who are strangers too. He hopes he recognizes some faces if he ever gets the chance to peer in the future - mom, dad, a few other friends. But still it feels trippy that a lot of people that shall surround him in the future - He is yet to meet them. They are still strangers. We are strangers to the future, and if not hopeful we can at least be curious about it (Like I said, I’ve been peppering this line everywhere ever since I read it. This might be r/iamsixteenandthisisdeep material but I like it nonetheless).

CUT TO:
EXT. JAMES THOMASON BUILDING LAWN - DAYBREAK

KAMBLI, VANSH, SOMA, MEET, STUTI, NISHANTH, RIYA sit on the intersection of roads on the JTB lawn as VANSH recounts the same horror story that he was telling in the train ride. KAMBLI is lost in thought - maybe wondering how frustrating it is that he is making new friends even when there’s just 15-20 days left in campus for him or maybe how this is one of the last sunrise he sees in campus, or maybe how this might be the last late night walk he partakes in before leaving and he doesn’t even have an idea about that, or maybe he’s thinking all of that, all at once. KAMBLI looks at the camera and raises his eyebrows, a slight smile on his face as if he believes that the viewer empathizes with the bittersweet poignant feeling that he’s feeling right now. The camera now rises in elevation as it starts looking at the Thomason building as the group in which KAMBLI sits fades from the foreground.

Text appears on screen:
FIN

Screen slowly fades to black. ‘FIN’ stays on the screen for a while.
Credits roll.

P.S : Apologies if this was way too long or if it came off pretentious. But I’ll be honest. I sat down to write my experiences and I couldn’t think of a way where I would condense these four years into a small blog post and it would do even the tiniest bit of justice to what I want to express. Not that this format covers everything, there must be a lot of things I have missed yet this feels like a better device for my memories and my experiences. Also, this is probably the last thing I write as a student at IIT Roorkee that will be presented to the larger public and so, wanted to pour my heart and soul into it - much apparent from the 15 page Google Doc that this has ended up being.
Finally, to all the people I found who made these four years a pleasurable experience - I love you all. As I write this, I feel a lot of emotions; fear, hope, curiosity, anticipation, sadness - but most of all, gratitude. Gratitude, for all that these years made me, for all that these years gave me, for all those that these years gave, for all that I have and all that I will. Thanks a lot, Roorkee - you were painful sometimes, but a pleasure nonetheless.

Signing off,
Kambli.