The day the past zoomed in on me

"Old friendships are like old wine. They get better and better as they age." This is an age-old saying that I had heard time and again but never took it seriously. That is until middle age set in. Suddenly, I am reminiscing a lot more. Going back to my carefree childhood days, the times when I climbed trees and laughed over pickled mangoes. My locked down body in a wandering mind sometimes travels to the corridors of my catholic college. It brings back memories of friends, laughter, crushes and good times.

And then, this happened - a bunch of friends from my college WhatsApp group got together and decided to have a Zoom reunion after twenty-three long years. It was an evening that I had longed for, somewhere in the quiet recess of my mind. My heart was filled with anticipation.

I woke up that morning excited, like it was my first day in college. I got on with my online work schedule like clockwork, but my heart eagerly awaited the 07:00 PM rendezvous on Zoom. I spent the evening tea-time talking about the shenanigans of my college days to my barely-interested daughter. She kept commenting that I was getting too old and boring! After a futile attempt to impress my son with my college stories, I started to dress up and get ready for the call.

Finally, it happens. I get into the Zoom meet and see my buddies screaming over a lousy network. They are all there. A bit older, a bit pixelated, but alive, thriving and giggling as ever. Yes, a bunch of 40-year-olds behaved like teenagers. The initial round of conversations was all about catching up. It was like twenty-three years in three minutes. "Where do you live?", "what do you do?", "how many kids?", "you look good!", "you too!".

Our class representative from back then had not forgotten her responsible position and soon took over as the session’s moderator steering conversations along certain paths. As the evening wore on, we time-travelled to the revered halls of our beloved institution, afternoon lectures, our wonderful teachers, lunch hour and canteen time, fests and more. I laughed so much through the evening that my husband checked on me twice to see if I was alright.

A friend played to us our favourite song from our college days to end on a lovely note. As we waved and smiled our way through the beautiful number about friendship and memories, I could see some of us tear up through those Zoom box screens. We waved our goodbyes, vowed to meet frequently. Reluctantly, all of us left the meeting and went back to the world of late-night dinners, hungry teenagers and unwashed dishes; but with a twinkle in the eye that only old friends can bring.