NLSIU

It hit me recently (actually when R pointed it out) that I have just 5 months left in law school. 2 months of this trimester, and 3 in the last trimester of 5th year. It is such an unbelievably weird feeling. At the cost of sounding very clichéd, it wasn’t so long ago that I remember lamenting that I didn’t know how I would ever get out of this place, and that 5 years was an incredibly long time. And now suddenly, it’s just 5 months; 5 months in a place where I have spent the last 4 years of my life, 5 months with the people I have been closest to for what feels like forever, 5 months in Nags, with Chetta and Peking and Rohini.

And I started wondering, if I could have done things differently, what is it that I would have done. Here’s a rough list:
1. Studied a bit more.
2. Whined much, much less.
3. Had more to drink. Not picked up smoking.
4. Gotten to know more people, especially the ones I always thought were rather cool, but kept procrastinating talking to.
5. Spent more hours outside Himalaya with Rishabh.
6. Eaten out less. Or maybe more.
7. Tried to stay out of certain messes I was drawn into.
8. Tried to be more involved when some of my friends needed me.
9. Talked less.
10. Not lost a phone, an ATM card and a credit card.
11. Shut people out less.
12. Gone jogging/ gyming.
13. Called my friends more when I was at home.
14. Replied to Anwesha’s mail about Bombay.
15. Partied more, sulked less.
16. Listened more.
17. Had more water fights.
18. Been less nasty to juniors during Univ Week. Nah, not really.
19. Not interned in the first and second year.
20. Not gone home when Rajkumar died.
21. Not fought with Adarsh.
22. Stayed back a few times at the end of trimester (on the day after the last paper).
23. Not screamed at Amber so much. Cared more.
24. Talked to more people.
25. Read more articles in Socio I. And Pol Sci.
26. Not read articles for Socio II end term.
27. Been a bit nicer to people who seemed lost or lonely.
28. Been a little meaner to people who hurt me.
29. Tried to learn Contracts on my own.
30. Submitted a few more projects on time.
31. Mooted more.
32. Brooded less.
33. Gotten to know Divya a little earlier.
34. Been more tolerant.
35. Done a better Corp II project.
36. Been more careful about who I dated and who I dumped.
37. Been a better Secret Santa.
38. Explored Nags more.
39. Screamed at more Auto-wallas.
40. Bought fewer clothes.
41. Read more.
42. Treated my car better and given it more of a chance.
43. Not judged some people too soon.
44. Been a better judge of character with some.
45. Played Holi on campus a few more times.
46. Liked law school a little more.
47. Cried less.
48. Been more childish.
49. Gotten to know Kaushik a little earlier and taken his trip more.
50. Gone for Pub Pool more.
51. Chilled more, worried less.

A lot of things I can think of, apart from the 51 abovementioned, that I would want to differently. But at the end of it all, I am not really sure I would have liked to spend a single minute differently. Here’s to college life and all the ups and downs it comes with, here’s to all the friends who love you and hate you the most all at the time. Here’s to law school, a strange place, which you can’t live with and can’t live without, which has dominated my existence for as long as I can think of myself as an adult and is now disappearing all too soon. Here’s too all the many clichés I have used in this post, but genuinely felt, all the same.