Playing a GIG

Two friends of mine from university days recently got married. To each other.

They threw a wedding party for us on Saturday night, and I was really looking foward to the grand batch get-together after what seemed like ages. But when I looked around, I was kinda taken aback. The mighty GIGs did not seem as mighty anymore. When the 60 of us had turned up in Singapore in 1998, our strength was our sheer number. The ground rumbled under us - the mighty GIGs.

Here's the history behind the name 'GIGs'. Soon upon arrival on Singapore soil, we were inducted into the IG or 'Indian Gang' - the informal ragging committee at university. They had a tradition of naming each batch, by adding a prefix to the term 'IGs'. The prefix had to be the starting letter of an offending word - that was the rule. For us, our seniors chose the letter 'G'. We told ourselves that the G actually stood for 'Great' but we all knew what it really was.

The GIGs soon developed a reputation of being the most lawless, rebellious, don't-carish batch of the IG ever, that went around spreading terror among juniors, just by their sheer numbers, and oh, by the fact that some of them roamed around campus carrying hockey sticks (and none of them played hockey). We were a constant source of nightmares for both the Students' Affairs Office and the Ministry of Education with our very casual attitude towards rules, regulations, laws and discipline in general. No batch had as many matric numbers jotted down in the black book by campus security out to find out the source of the incredibly loud noise in the Sports and Recreation Centre in the middle of the night.

In fact, when the juniors asked me how I would describe the GIGs to juniors, I'd said, "GIGs - we're the people your parents warned you about."

But we were also the most vibrant of the lot, with a mix of very different kinds of personalities.

As was written by our juniors in our farewell booklet:

"And the Lord said... "Let there be GIGs." And although not a few angels with furrowed brows asked God if He was sure of what He was doing, the Lord smiled and said, "It shall be perfect."

And so we witnessed a potpourri of brilliance, impishness, beauty, courage, ambition, rebellion, wit, sincerity, grace and brashness, all with an underlying denominator of vibrance... You will be remembered, as people of will that created their own lives rather than being controlled by circumstances, as people who left a deep and everlasting impression on a campus that will never be the same again, as the wittiest bunch of people we have ever known, and as sparks of creativity and talent that impressed one and all."

(I did not contribute in any way to the beauty quotient of my batch. I was just happy to walk away with 'the funniest girl of the batch' vote at our farewell).

We really lived it up when we were students, oblivious to how life outside campus was gonna waat-lagao us. Aamir Khan was right in RDB, "Is taraf hum life ko nachate hain, us taraf life humko nachaati hai."

Back to the wedding party. It was so amazing to catch up with guys from old days. After dinner, it was time to shake a leg, just like the old days, when we would have a 'jam n hop' after every function. I hadn't danced in such a long time, I was exhausted in no time. So I decided to play DJ for a while.

I was promptly booted off with cries of "DJ sucks! DJ sucks!" and "Kya baja rahi hai yaar?" And all I could say was, "Junta, we're dancing to MP3s playing from a laptop, what do you expect? Hmmmph! Arre rhythm toh body mein hona chahiye, music toh aata jata rehta hai. Naach na jaane, DJ sucks? Hmmmph again!"

There was a time when we would dominate the dance floor. Wherever you looked, you saw a GIG. So when I looked around on that day, I could actually count the number of GIGs on my fingers. Whatever happened to the big junta??

They were all gone. Poof. Disappeared. Especially the girls. Except for another girl and me, most had either gotten married or had moved elsewhere.

Later, the bride walked up to me and said, "So when is your turn?"

"Hahahaha! My turn?? Hahahaha! Ooops..."

"Seriously, Sayesha, now you should get married!"

"I'm not there yet, yaar. As of now, I have no time to 'become a married person'. Let me finish my Master's and then we'll see." I told her.

It's true. I believe marriage is a full time job. Or at least a part-time job. Right now, I'm already juggling my full-time job with my Master's. I really have no time or space to include something as important as marriage. So it's not that I'm not getting married now because I don't consider it important. In fact, it's quite the reverse. I'm not getting married now because I consider it too important to be fitted into a slot in an otherwise full schedule.

My dissertation supervisor whom I met today before my class, asked me, "So, how's life, Sayesha? Work, assignments, exams, dissertation... must be taking up all your time, isn't it? No life, eh?"

"No life, Sir..." I made a 'oh-so-poor-thing' face, hoping for sympathy.

"Good!" He said approvingly.

"Good??" Sheesh.

I guess that's gonna be my life this whole year.

Ah well. So that's why I am not joining all the others in my batch who are getting married at the speed of light. It's not time yet. When the right guy proposes at the right time, I will... err... coyly look at my nails and give it a thought.

Till then, let me enjoy my single life.