Saturday.....a special day !

Saturday is a special day in the week, not now, but from my college days at Warangal. The college days are always special ones, but will talk about them later and today let me just focus on Saturday. Though the college bore the name of Warangal, it was in fact near to Kazipet town, known for the railway junction. As in any other town in India, there was a small temple near the railway station, name not known but a cute one, an abode of all possible Hindu deities within its compound.

Saturday was also known in the college to be the movie day as we had a movie show every Saturday evening, starting at 7pm in our open-air theater. But Saturday is not special because of movie. Saturday evening was dry dinner, means only bananas, eggs and breads in the hostel- no rice and no dal. But Saturday is not special because of dry dinner.

Saturday was the day in the week, where I looked forward to my visit to the temple with my friend Jay, who was a simple and studious boy with a golden heart. No matter what happens, the outing was a ritual every Saturday, throughout our stay of five years in the college. And I should make it clear that this visit to temple had nothing to do with praying for marks in exams, though we both fared well in all our exams. We used to hire a bi-cycle from the hostel check-post to go to the temple, at a price of 25paisa, quarter of a Rupee, per an hour. And we used to hire one bi-cycle for both of us, the ones with companion seats, for some reason I do not see similar bicycles now a days. While going to the temple, I used to ride the bi-cycle with Jay on companion seat and it was the other way round on our return trip from temple. This weekly outing was surprisingly more fun, filled with simple joy without any worries, visiting and saluting the deities in the temple- mere a routine than any other religious inkling, or prayer, or wishes. We were happy with our rental bi-cycle pedaling through busy streets and by-lanes of Kazipet and dusty open fields on the way, though we had possibilities of rickshaws or buses.

After so many years in life, both of us have now more than one car, access to larger and more beautiful temples nearby and definitely can spend more than 25paisa on travel. Now I even do not see 25paisa coins anymore! Still, we miss our Saturday bicycle ride to temple; a unique experience that we shared together - the thread of our friendship.

Saturday is not special for the temple; rather it is special for our outing on bi-cycle.

And I am sure; we will not be able to have those special Saturdays again. Only I can indulge in reminiscence, when alone in a rain soaked Saturday morning, having endless coffee wishing the weekend to be a longer one…..