Random thoughts

We've always had the raw end of the deal- all of us deprived students whose colleges are miles away from the city. Early mornings, awful claustrophobia-inducing buses, long hours of cramped boredom in the afore mentioned, prolonged torture if we happen to miss them, more difficulty in getting out of college than most prisons, having nowhere remotely interesting in our 20 mile radius even if we do manage to escape, and worst of all... terrible food- that we're stuck with till we get back home- late in the evening!!.. Meanwhile, ppl in city colleges sail in and out of their gates in comfortable cars and bikes.. after commutes of not more than ten minutes. They never have a dearth of places to visit around their college. And the worst bit- they get brilliant food even inside campus! Things like chocolate fudge cake, brownies, pizzas, pasta and galaxy bars are commonplace for them, not to mention cold coffees and iced lattes. we on the other hand have to make do with corn puffs, sambar saadam, bajjis swimming in oil, tea served in tiny steel tumblers and icky flavoured milk!

But, finally,.. after nearly three years of this torture.. . *drumroll* .. the winds of change have begun to blow in campus. They've brought in a mini-bakery stand and plopped it alongside our flavoured milk icebox. A whole new menu has been introduced, which at first glance looks way too ambitious for those whose baking expertise had been limited to our not-so-wonderful puffs. But, strangely enough, most of the stuff is pretty good. There are multi-coloured cakes, chocolate bonbons- that are referred to as anything from 'choc ball' to 'choc bum bums'! , doughnuts with deliciously sticky choc icing- albeit a little too chewy, apple pie that's actually pleasant, cute looking burgers with little cherries on top, yummy pizzas - whose vegetables are only slightly raw, and ooh even the little fruitnik bottles of apple and mango juice. I know none of these sound very great.. but when you're as deprived as we've been for so long, anything remotely edible and fairly hygienic seems like manna from heaven! Needless to say, the usually packed canteen is now so stuffed, that walking through it is like swimming through a sea of hands legs and familiar faces. And ooh, the best bit? All of the food is brilliantly priced- bonbons for rs.5, apple pies for 7, pizzas for 8 and burgers for 10!!.. ha! Beat that over-priced-city-college-canteen-that-sells-coffees-for-40-bucks!! J