Cambridge Calling

An unexpected call from my friend Venkat to check if I was interested in going for a walking tour of Cambridge University brought back sweet memories of the three of us. It was 7 years since I last met them.  For 7 months the three of us had worked in a team, shopped for PlayStation Cds, exercised to lose the extra weight which we piled up thanks to the hogging of innumerable sizzlers and pastries, had bitching sessions, quarreled and patched up. We worked hard and partied harder.  Then I got married and quit my job to never meet them till my first weekend in London.

A short train and car journey later I was hugging two of my best pals exchanging 7 years of life in 7 min and picking up from where we left off.

2 cars, 2 car seats, 7 people reach a place called Cambridge University.  Eager to explore we rushed to the university central area where the walking tour was going to start. I hope the group remembers the first thing we did before the walking tour :p

I thought Cambridge was only few handful colleges but was surprised to find out that it was within a town with 31 colleges which are self-governing institutions, over 100 academic departments organized into six schools. Many of the colleges have chapels or abbeys where in the students can pray.

The university is located centrally within the Cambridge City with older colleges situated near the city center and river Cam where students and visitors can go punting admiring the surroundings. That is one thing which we didn’t do but I so wish we did.

I also wasn’t aware about a lot of Nobel Prize winners who had graduated from the colleges.

We were given a guided tour of few of the colleges like Trinity College, Kings College, Queen‘s college, St John Colleges Chapel, Darwin college etc.

Some stuff that I do remember now is the academic dresses worn by the graduates during the graduation ceremonies, the tree which apparently has same origins as the tree whose apple Newton saw falling down leading him to discover the laws of motion, the lawns on which you are not allowed to walk unless you are some senior member of the college and of course the famous Corpus Clock near the Corpus Christi college.

The insect is called chronophage which literally means time eater in Greek. Bollywood fans will remember the clock since it features in the song Mudi Mudi from Paa.

A thing which I was surprised to find out was that few colleges didn’t allow women to be admitted till 1980s. Now that is something I didn’t expect!!!

The trip ended with us promising to stay in touch now and forever. But I did miss one thing and I know you both did too…the bitching session :). Well it means we need to meet again and sooner than later 🙂

I won’t forget the hot water bag, the cold medicine, the pasta and the hot cup of tea and the warmth of meeting you and AT ever. The talk we had during the evening and days followed after the trip has made me a stronger person.

VN, thanks for taking the initiative of planning the trip. I am thinking seriously about what we discussed after the trip and at Wagamama. I am working on it and you will hear from me sooner about implementing the action plan.

Last and not the least Cambridge thanks a lot …you made a reunion possible 🙂

Few glimpses of the trip.