It is a known fact that memories are sometimes all that we have. When one is old, and you have spent your entire life, you like to reminiscent about your life. One such memory is of one’s farewell party. Everyone knows that even the university life is not that easy, especially if one has challenging subjects like accounting and finance. There are classes to be taken, notes and assignments to be made, and presentations to be given. So, after all this, at the end of the year, the teachers seemed to take pity on the students by allowing the juniors to organize and arrange a farewell party for the leaving class. The farewell party is a gesture of saying goodbye, a token of love and gratitude given to the departing students in the hopes that they would leave the college in high spirits with their heads held high. It is said that no one really forgets their farewell, and it was the same case with me. My friends and I used to badger our juniors from time to time, reminding them to give us an unforgettable farewell.

Therefore, when the time of the party drew close, we were excited to see the juniors cooped up in this corner or that, making plans and deciding on things. As a tradition, we were not supposed to know any of their plans. We were just given the instructions to come to the college auditorium on Saturday morning. I and my friends decided that we would all get ready at one friend’s place, as this would give us the opportunity to mingle before the party. It was such fun to get ready together. While someone was busy straightening their hair, the other was huddled in front of another mirror, braiding it. One friend was applying nail paint on her nails while one was jumping up and down holding two heels and asking us which ones would look better with her dress. When we reached the college and walked towards the auditorium, the music that could be heard, the delicious aroma of some food being barbequed from inside added to our already increased excitement.

One step in, and for a brief moment, I was stunned. The auditorium looked nothing like the old grubby place which I remembered. It seemed to have undergone an amazing transformation. The creaky wooden chairs were gone and instead of them, there were comfortable seats with black cushions. In front of us, a long strip of blood red carpet covered the floor, which went all the way upto the stage. Oh, the stage! It looked as pretty as a picture, with elegant red couches and a round table which was decorated with more flowers and had piles of rolled up papers. probably our titles. To say that I was surprised by all this would have been an understatement. We all were ushered to our respective seats, and the function began.

First, the Dean went up the stage to give her address. He thanked us for being diligent students throughout our bachelors and congratulated those who got the first division in their exams. She also advised us to always be hardworking and respectful throughout our lives. Afterwards, two hosts came up and started giving away our titles one by one. This was the most fun, as everyone was curious to know what title the others got. Most of the titles were amusing and hinted on the personality of the person who got them. When my name was called, I came forward to accept my title, blushing furiously. It was “butterscotch firungi”. Butterscotch referring to the candy, meaning that I talked endlessly, while firungi was aimed at my talking constantly in English with no Urdu words. We all enjoyed a hearty laugh over everyone’s titles. No farewell or any event is complete without pictures. Taking a picture is a beautiful way of capturing a precious moment, and reminiscing about it later. The poor photographer must have been hiding his annoyance as we kept him busy for a full hour.

To this day, whenever I go through all those pictures, I cannot help the grin that spreads over my face when I see our faces flushed with happiness and our broad smiles. We clearly had the time of our lives. Then lunch was announced which was laid out outside in the ground in a tent. We helped ourselves with the delicious food that was spread across two tables. There were biryani, BBQ chicken and all kinds of drinks. After the food, we stayed for some time to especially thank our juniors. We complimented on everything and thanked them for a memorable experience that would surely stay with us for the rest of my life.