Artefacts of My Memory

 When I open my cupboard, I do see a few books that I didn't return back to my college library (and I certainly don't intend to return them, either) , but there is a lot more there that reminds me of Delhi. In my cupboard. As I dig deeper and deeper, I come across the mundane and the everyday. The little bits and pieces of insignificant things. But mind you, these small artefacts are heavy with the burden of memory. They smell of Delhi, and when I touch them, they take me back to my days in Delhi.

In the first place, there are cafe coupons from my college cafe (ofcourse it isn't a canteen!) Anyone who have ever used these would know how invaluable these are. You may not always get a free cafe meal, or even a brownie. A cup of coffee, and some choco sticks with that, too! It will make a perfect evening's meal. Some of these cafe coupons are very old and outdated. I initially found them in my residence room, lying at a corner. I was too elated, but they had already expired! But I still kept them safely. With me.

I was never a cafe going person. In my first year, I went to the college cafe only once or twice! I was more of a library going person, and cafe was an absolutely alien place for me. Come second year, I remember I had come to the cafe to return some stuff to the cafe bhaiyas, and some of my friends sitting there called me for a small adda session. That was it. I chatted and chatted till it was time for classes. Throughout my third year, I couldn't stay away from the college cafe. The appeal was magnetic. Just to catch up with my friends, maybe. To have lunch with your friends. Or to have dinner at night,if you hated the mess food that day. Or some snacks in the evening, while you are studying for your exams. You would get to meet JPji, and if you are lucky enough, he might share some of the darkest secrets of the college with you (like how Dr Mathur once fell into a serious money fraud trap!) In the winters, I would sit in the cafe-tree area, on a reclining chair, with my books , pretending to read but actually taking a bird's-eye view of everything and everyone around me. Chandni and A.Faruqi (or Lara) would be around! Cafe coupons became an absolutely essential stuff for me. Diptarka had to now reissue cafe coupons in his name not once, but twice or even thrice!

These cafe coupons will be a part of my small museum collection. You won't be getting these anymore at Stephen’s. Obviously they introduced easily rechargeable ID cards towards the end of our college days, and I recharged a hefty amount, thinking I would eat some more brownies and sip some more coffee with choco sticks during my last few months at college. Alas!

How about my next artefact, a Delhi metro token coin. This again is a rare collection, since the metro authorities won't be issuing these anymore in the near future. Also, also....under normal circumstances, a traveller doesn't get to keep this token with them while leaving the metro station. You are supposed to deposit that at the exit gate. But I still have this. How? No, my dad is not an officer in the DMC!

Once, while travelling, my metro card wasn't working at a particular station, and I had to take a token from the station. When I got down at the destination, I thought of try using that card once again. And lo, it worked! So...I could leave from the exit gate...and without having to use my token! That's a funny story, isn't it!

What else, what else! Well, there are lots of payment receipts and bills from Beccos, Miniso, Bistro Cafe, Hudson, Sudarshan.....college campus ATM, cafe shop bills....a good set of documents to study how spendthrift spoiled brats look like! Shops in Kamla Nagar, Hudson Lane, Malka Ganj that I wonder when I will get to visit once again! These bills are hardly legible. The ink has already dried up. They are just barely readable. But I can tell what all I bought,  against which these were issued. Brownies from Bistro because they are unparalleled. Stationeries from Sudarshan because that is how debauchery looks like. And yes, somfancy stuff from Beccos, cute little notebooks from Miniso.

I am sure these mundane, little things don't make sense to you. These are not books, or some lovely dress, or even an entry ticket to the Pragati Maidan book fair. Those are also there, but these are the microhistories which I don't want to lose sight of. My everyday in Delhi and the ordinary experiences could never be captured through those "bigger", more "spectacular" stuff. I think Delhi taught me how to find excitement in the everyday of college, classes, ups and downs. And if anything, a small cup of coffee from the college Cafe, some brownie from Bistro, or maybe a visit to Sudarshan would make my day, always!