Monday, November 7, 2011

A surprisingly happy post.

Yes, I'm writing again. I know I said I wouldn't blog again, but this week has inspired me to do this.

As a short catch up, I'm living in Mumbai now, working with Deloitte Consulting. The extent to which life has changed after coming here is so immense, that it I've decided to dedicate a completely different post to it. Let's fast forward a bit for now.

So about two months ago, I receive a mail from my college, informing me of the date and time of the convocation.

I'll be honest here. I was exasperated at the thought of going back to college. True, I wanted to catch up with my close friends, but the thought of getting those umpteen signatures and certificates was tiring itself. In any case, I had to go.
A few weeks later, I proudly purchased the flight tickets with my own money for the first time.

The initial apprehension began fading away as the day of my journey, November the 1st, inched closer. I believe this was largely due to the monotony of work for a prolonged period.

As a result, I was pretty excited while packing my bags the night before my journey, not because I was finally meeting my friends who I hadn't seen for about a year, but because this was a welcome break from work. And I hadn't even gone home for Diwali, which has never happened before.

If you're wondering how someone couldn't be insanely excited at the prospect of going to a convocation, then here's your answer. After spending six solitary months training in Baroda, I think I hardened up a few notches. Inured, as my friend Rishav quotes.

I headed off for Pulkit's home via the metro after landing in Delhi at around nine. But I changed my mind midway, and went to Gunjeet's instead, since it was already getting late and our cab to Patiala would be starting there itself.

Following a series of instructions from Gunjeet for reaching his house from the metro station, I felt as a guy going to rescue his girlfriend from a kidnapper. Since his parents were around, I couldn't exactly yell out nonsense (like I imagined I would) when I finally saw him and Mathur at the door. While catching up with both of them, I looked forward to the cab ride next morning.


Sadly, the ride to Patiala wasn't as entertaining as I'd hoped it would be. It was easy to figure out why. They (Gunjeet, Mathur, Pulkit, Nitin, Karan) were all used to running into each other every other month. This was nothing new. The only interesting part was Mathur's handwriting analysis. It's funny how everyone wants to know what they project to the world, irrespective of their i-don't-care-what-people-think attitude


From the moment I got off in college, I saw a similar pattern. The people I wanted to actually spend time with didn't even seem moderately interested in doing the same. But then evening came, and people seemed to come in torrents out of nowhere. Hugs and handshakes galore.


Yet again, the juniors were the more enthusiastic lot. Some of my batchmates were an absolute delight as well. You just know from that first look when you meet someone, that he/she is genuinely happy to see you again. And that feeling just gets better when it comes from someone unexpected.


So much in life depends on the choices we make. The following morning I chose not to do some formalities to get some money refunded. And the day after that, I didn't take our cab for Delhi. Two great decisions. Two perfect days.


I call this a surprisingly happy post. Usually during college, my image was that of a moody depressed guy. This week, looking at everybody, I felt like the happiest guy in the world.
Chatting away like a gossip girl, skipping meals and other comforts like sleeping, just to meet everyone. Some sacrifices are worth taking.


I think my experience would've been different had this convocation been 4 months ago. But thanks to Mumbai, I've been re-programmed. More on that in the next post.