"Life is old there; older than the trees.. Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze."
The best thing about surprises is that they come when you least expect them. That morning, when I woke up, I had no idea the day would turn out the way it did, and now, going down those country roads again, it gets teardrops in my eyes.
9th September. My parents took a train from Bombay, on their way to Delhi. They had to meet one of my teachers, hand over some of my stuff, and most importantly, make me feel home in an (?)alien world, and cure me of my-bl#h-err, (?)h0m#$1ckneS$. That night, we had an informal meeting in our common room. As we spoke, our temperatures kept rising, and the infestation kept spreading, and word was passed around that an informal leave was to be granted to all students as a precautionary measure. All this, after another got the fatal virus, and had to be sent for treatment. Quarantine. Stirred, but not shaken, I called my family, and for the first time since the outbreak, told 'em 'bout the epidemic. Nerved.
10th September. I went to sleep late at 5, but still managed to wake up by 9- just in time for college. More than half our batch had run away. Eloped, with the fear in their souls guiding 'em to yesterday's security. I decided to miss the first class, and attend the rest of the fateful day in retrospection. Thoughtful contemplation. After a bath, I bagged up, and reached college, just in time for our second lecture, only to learn that classes were temporarily suspended for the day. Wasted.
Rewind to the past. The situation in our college was a grave one. Dengue, swine flu, influenza, viral fever, et al cases were rising in Delhi, and the open drain beside our hostels provided a welcome breeding ground for the plagued mosquitoes. It was only a matter of time till we would catch the disease too. Everyday, new cases were being reported, and people were getting admitted to the hospital. Some in the heat of the sun, some during the peak of the night. A senior got admitted to the hospital with swine flu. Another felt the heat, and escaped. And at least fifty others were down with influenza, seasonal flu, and showing symptoms of the five who caught the ultimate. Down with the sickness.
8th September. My neighbour came to my room, and the piece of shit that he is, started hugging everyone around. Hug, hug, hug, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, chuuuuuu! Swine flu: Hospitalised, at 0230hours.
Forward, forward! 10th September, 1000hours. All of us sat at the canteen, zombie-d. My parents had reached Delhi, and were on their way to meet me in college in a couple of hours. Telecommunication was fighting its way out as the best mode of conversation, as calls were frantically being made to our over-frantic parents. The doctor was called urgently to conduct preliminary tests for the flu. Everyone kept reporting to the doctor in fear. Safe, not Sorry. The sneezes, and coughs kept getting louder, and the cure was being fumigated around campus. Many of us had to be rushed to hospital for a secondary check up. Rumour had it that the college would be shut for a week, but with our Vice-Chancellor away battling intra-state issues elsewhere, no official word could be confirmed. Our Warden remained in denial, and a senior teacher replied in the joyous affirmative. Confusion, confusion! And yet, there could be no pen to paper.
We sat there for four hours, feasting on all that our canteen had to offer, and talking, walking, and eating faster, hoping it'd make time fly faster too. And then, as they say, at the end of a long wait, it's always worth it. The proctor had declared that college would be shut for a week, which, alongwith the weekend, made it ten whole days. 1500hours- I rushed to my room, and called my parents, and told 'em that my flight tickets were booked for that evening. And so, they wouldn't be able to meet me in college, and that I wouldn't be able to meet 'em at their guest-house either. Also, I wouldn't be returning with 'em 'cause the entire Mumbai gang was going in a group. A minute later, I called a fellow Mumbai-kar to change my lie into the truth, and actually book those return tickets. She called her father back home, and got tickets booked for 1720hours, which meant that we would 've to leave the campus by 1530hours, latest. Having to time to choose what to carry, and pack accordingly, I dumped all that I had into my ever-so-big travel bag, charged my in-a-coma cell phone, and laptop, and with a forty kilogram assistant, ran towards the canteen.
Misfortune strikes. On reaching the canteen, I learnt that we didn't secure tickets for the flight at 1720hours, but for the one at 1950hours, which meant that the long wait was not yet over. I kept my luggage at the canteen steps, and ran to the Academic Block to get my Leave Application signed. That done, we all met at the canteen again, where I begun to charge my cell-phone, and now in-a-coma laptop. Wait, wait, wait.. It was soon time for Sheda, and Razm to leave for their flight, and the chivalrous gentleman that I am, helped 'em carry all their luggage to the main gate.
Strangely, as they left, I felt this intensified sense of belonging to the place.. to all my friends there. When I was there, I wanted to be back home with every breath I took.. but in those last few moments, I could feel a part of me wanting to stay back. And when I thought about it, I realised, it was not just a part, but one entire half, and coming to think of it, my better half. I probably wouldn't realise it then, or maybe I was too reluctant to, but in those six short weeks, I'd spent an entire lifetime there. And as a friend had told me.. "This was just the beginning.. of everything.", I learnt that my tomorrow had already begun.. today. Walking back with Chid, I couldn't believe I'd gotten so deeply associated with the place already. But that's where I was, so yeah.
After Chid and I reached the canteen, we were joined by my fellow Mumbai-kar friend, Stew. In a li'l while, Sabm, and Sanku came there, hands full of luggage, and hired a cab to take us all to the airport. Meanwhile, I'd learnt that my parents were also at the airport to meet me for a saintly five minutes, reminisce, and hand over some of my belongings. After dropping Sanku at his terminal, we exited the airport, and re-entered the airport to enter Terminal 1-A. I met my parents after six whole weeks, and insensitive though it may sound, I realised that I didn't really miss 'em much. I was dying to get back home.. to get back to the comfort of my bed.. and to take in that free smell of that city, but when it came to my family, I was still blank. We spoke for a couple of minutes, and my parents handed over my overdue belongings, and after a few (?)departing hugs, I took leave.. inside the terminal building, with my passport to freedom, with my ticket to home..
After the routine check in, et al, we three sat at the waiting room, and ordered some food from the McDonalds over there. I logged on to the internet for a brief while, kept texting Chid, and enjoyed the sanctity that homecoming music had to offer. Sabm's flight had started to board, and he left.. to his own sense of belonging.. Bangalore. In a brief while, our boarding also begun, and chivalry guiding, I led the way to our escape.
I shall never forget the temporary debt that I owe to our flight for having saved me.. my body.. my soul.. my everything.. The last step was a huge leap.. with a pang of bliss, and satisfaction shooting within me.. reminding me that I'd soon be.. coming back to life. All I could feel then was relief.. homecoming after six weeks in a seemingly alien world. The rain set in at my home, and I could still hear my footsteps from back there. The rain might blow away my candles there, but the legends never will. And it was to that love of yesterday, and chains of joy that I was returning. I didn't 've too many thoughts then.. probably, none. The only thing gushing in and out, were feelings.. memories that would never die out. Pieces of our past that remind us to pave our way for a better tomorrow.
I was messaging Chid, and Rasin, and had to play parallel lives, showing Chid how happy I was at going back, and showing Rasin how I missed Bombay, and how badly I wanted to be back. Aah, my trick wasn't caught. A li'l later, when the flight was about to take off, I told Rasin that I was a li'l busy, and that I'd text her in a while. The truth is: you don't get network in the sky, but yeah, it worked well enough. Back in the aeroplane, Stew stole my window seat, and for the first time in my life, I had to surrender my beloved window seat. Chivalry, tch tch. I sat beside a seventy-six year ol' man, who liked to converse a lot, quite evidently. We had quite a bit of conversation during our journey, and I learned half his life story in a mere two hours, and if I may add, vice-versa. And before I forget, as fate would 've it, our legends never die.. his grandson was a student of a Gujarati school in Juhu. Ka-boom! JNS, aye! Small world, ay, o! "Man meets grandson's senior" would be a worthy first page tabloid story, so said he. (In any case, MM seems to be having an inseparable affinity for our school!)
And then the awkward silence.. the long pause of surrender.. Music be our master, our master to save us! And hearing one of those "Coming home" songs, it struck me as though a bolt of thunder had lit the flying machine I was travelling in! It was Ganpati season in Maharashtra! And Mumbai would be revelling in party, everyone in unison, to welcome its deity! The streets would be happening, and the people would be chanting.. it was THE time to be back home. To add to it all, it was the weekend- and all my friends would be back home too! Some for Ganpati, some for the two day waiver- but that wouldn't matter.. what did was that they would all be there. Home! The very thought of it filled me with so much excitement that I was willing to jump off our manned jet, and fly back to Mumbai myself.. faster than that piece of engine!
After all, there's no place like home.. Home is where the heart is.. and so, all of yesterday kept coming back to me! No one was expecting me back home for another twenty days, and I'd already started making plans of surprising my friends. This, that, boom! I'd promised myself.. that someday, I would go back to my dream village, and reminisce the good ol' days, and on the road to my destiny, I was chalking each and every move of mine in animated joy!
Our flight luckily didn't 've any delay problems, and in a good two hours, we could see the Mumbai horizon. I was so excited to not miss a single moment of my city that Stew and I were actually sharing the same window seat! If not for the seat belt, I'd probably 've broken through the window, and done a crash landing into Thane Creek. Aah, thank god for air travel precautionary measures. At 2215hours, we marked our entry into a 28*C atmosphere of home, and when I left the confines of the air-conditioned air plane, into the blue-skin smell of belonging, with a slight shower overhead, I recalled the wise man's words about the smell of the different air: the worst good smell in the world.. And, I knew it then, as I know it now.. I was home, recalled to life.
The best thing about surprises is that they come when you least expect them. That morning, when I woke up, I had no idea the day would turn out the way it did, and now, going down those country roads again, it gets teardrops in my eyes.
9th September. My parents took a train from Bombay, on their way to Delhi. They had to meet one of my teachers, hand over some of my stuff, and most importantly, make me feel home in an (?)alien world, and cure me of my-bl#h-err, (?)h0m#$1ckneS$. That night, we had an informal meeting in our common room. As we spoke, our temperatures kept rising, and the infestation kept spreading, and word was passed around that an informal leave was to be granted to all students as a precautionary measure. All this, after another got the fatal virus, and had to be sent for treatment. Quarantine. Stirred, but not shaken, I called my family, and for the first time since the outbreak, told 'em 'bout the epidemic. Nerved.
10th September. I went to sleep late at 5, but still managed to wake up by 9- just in time for college. More than half our batch had run away. Eloped, with the fear in their souls guiding 'em to yesterday's security. I decided to miss the first class, and attend the rest of the fateful day in retrospection. Thoughtful contemplation. After a bath, I bagged up, and reached college, just in time for our second lecture, only to learn that classes were temporarily suspended for the day. Wasted.
Rewind to the past. The situation in our college was a grave one. Dengue, swine flu, influenza, viral fever, et al cases were rising in Delhi, and the open drain beside our hostels provided a welcome breeding ground for the plagued mosquitoes. It was only a matter of time till we would catch the disease too. Everyday, new cases were being reported, and people were getting admitted to the hospital. Some in the heat of the sun, some during the peak of the night. A senior got admitted to the hospital with swine flu. Another felt the heat, and escaped. And at least fifty others were down with influenza, seasonal flu, and showing symptoms of the five who caught the ultimate. Down with the sickness.
8th September. My neighbour came to my room, and the piece of shit that he is, started hugging everyone around. Hug, hug, hug, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, chuuuuuu! Swine flu: Hospitalised, at 0230hours.
Forward, forward! 10th September, 1000hours. All of us sat at the canteen, zombie-d. My parents had reached Delhi, and were on their way to meet me in college in a couple of hours. Telecommunication was fighting its way out as the best mode of conversation, as calls were frantically being made to our over-frantic parents. The doctor was called urgently to conduct preliminary tests for the flu. Everyone kept reporting to the doctor in fear. Safe, not Sorry. The sneezes, and coughs kept getting louder, and the cure was being fumigated around campus. Many of us had to be rushed to hospital for a secondary check up. Rumour had it that the college would be shut for a week, but with our Vice-Chancellor away battling intra-state issues elsewhere, no official word could be confirmed. Our Warden remained in denial, and a senior teacher replied in the joyous affirmative. Confusion, confusion! And yet, there could be no pen to paper.
We sat there for four hours, feasting on all that our canteen had to offer, and talking, walking, and eating faster, hoping it'd make time fly faster too. And then, as they say, at the end of a long wait, it's always worth it. The proctor had declared that college would be shut for a week, which, alongwith the weekend, made it ten whole days. 1500hours- I rushed to my room, and called my parents, and told 'em that my flight tickets were booked for that evening. And so, they wouldn't be able to meet me in college, and that I wouldn't be able to meet 'em at their guest-house either. Also, I wouldn't be returning with 'em 'cause the entire Mumbai gang was going in a group. A minute later, I called a fellow Mumbai-kar to change my lie into the truth, and actually book those return tickets. She called her father back home, and got tickets booked for 1720hours, which meant that we would 've to leave the campus by 1530hours, latest. Having to time to choose what to carry, and pack accordingly, I dumped all that I had into my ever-so-big travel bag, charged my in-a-coma cell phone, and laptop, and with a forty kilogram assistant, ran towards the canteen.
Misfortune strikes. On reaching the canteen, I learnt that we didn't secure tickets for the flight at 1720hours, but for the one at 1950hours, which meant that the long wait was not yet over. I kept my luggage at the canteen steps, and ran to the Academic Block to get my Leave Application signed. That done, we all met at the canteen again, where I begun to charge my cell-phone, and now in-a-coma laptop. Wait, wait, wait.. It was soon time for Sheda, and Razm to leave for their flight, and the chivalrous gentleman that I am, helped 'em carry all their luggage to the main gate.
Strangely, as they left, I felt this intensified sense of belonging to the place.. to all my friends there. When I was there, I wanted to be back home with every breath I took.. but in those last few moments, I could feel a part of me wanting to stay back. And when I thought about it, I realised, it was not just a part, but one entire half, and coming to think of it, my better half. I probably wouldn't realise it then, or maybe I was too reluctant to, but in those six short weeks, I'd spent an entire lifetime there. And as a friend had told me.. "This was just the beginning.. of everything.", I learnt that my tomorrow had already begun.. today. Walking back with Chid, I couldn't believe I'd gotten so deeply associated with the place already. But that's where I was, so yeah.
After Chid and I reached the canteen, we were joined by my fellow Mumbai-kar friend, Stew. In a li'l while, Sabm, and Sanku came there, hands full of luggage, and hired a cab to take us all to the airport. Meanwhile, I'd learnt that my parents were also at the airport to meet me for a saintly five minutes, reminisce, and hand over some of my belongings. After dropping Sanku at his terminal, we exited the airport, and re-entered the airport to enter Terminal 1-A. I met my parents after six whole weeks, and insensitive though it may sound, I realised that I didn't really miss 'em much. I was dying to get back home.. to get back to the comfort of my bed.. and to take in that free smell of that city, but when it came to my family, I was still blank. We spoke for a couple of minutes, and my parents handed over my overdue belongings, and after a few (?)departing hugs, I took leave.. inside the terminal building, with my passport to freedom, with my ticket to home..
After the routine check in, et al, we three sat at the waiting room, and ordered some food from the McDonalds over there. I logged on to the internet for a brief while, kept texting Chid, and enjoyed the sanctity that homecoming music had to offer. Sabm's flight had started to board, and he left.. to his own sense of belonging.. Bangalore. In a brief while, our boarding also begun, and chivalry guiding, I led the way to our escape.
I shall never forget the temporary debt that I owe to our flight for having saved me.. my body.. my soul.. my everything.. The last step was a huge leap.. with a pang of bliss, and satisfaction shooting within me.. reminding me that I'd soon be.. coming back to life. All I could feel then was relief.. homecoming after six weeks in a seemingly alien world. The rain set in at my home, and I could still hear my footsteps from back there. The rain might blow away my candles there, but the legends never will. And it was to that love of yesterday, and chains of joy that I was returning. I didn't 've too many thoughts then.. probably, none. The only thing gushing in and out, were feelings.. memories that would never die out. Pieces of our past that remind us to pave our way for a better tomorrow.
I was messaging Chid, and Rasin, and had to play parallel lives, showing Chid how happy I was at going back, and showing Rasin how I missed Bombay, and how badly I wanted to be back. Aah, my trick wasn't caught. A li'l later, when the flight was about to take off, I told Rasin that I was a li'l busy, and that I'd text her in a while. The truth is: you don't get network in the sky, but yeah, it worked well enough. Back in the aeroplane, Stew stole my window seat, and for the first time in my life, I had to surrender my beloved window seat. Chivalry, tch tch. I sat beside a seventy-six year ol' man, who liked to converse a lot, quite evidently. We had quite a bit of conversation during our journey, and I learned half his life story in a mere two hours, and if I may add, vice-versa. And before I forget, as fate would 've it, our legends never die.. his grandson was a student of a Gujarati school in Juhu. Ka-boom! JNS, aye! Small world, ay, o! "Man meets grandson's senior" would be a worthy first page tabloid story, so said he. (In any case, MM seems to be having an inseparable affinity for our school!)
And then the awkward silence.. the long pause of surrender.. Music be our master, our master to save us! And hearing one of those "Coming home" songs, it struck me as though a bolt of thunder had lit the flying machine I was travelling in! It was Ganpati season in Maharashtra! And Mumbai would be revelling in party, everyone in unison, to welcome its deity! The streets would be happening, and the people would be chanting.. it was THE time to be back home. To add to it all, it was the weekend- and all my friends would be back home too! Some for Ganpati, some for the two day waiver- but that wouldn't matter.. what did was that they would all be there. Home! The very thought of it filled me with so much excitement that I was willing to jump off our manned jet, and fly back to Mumbai myself.. faster than that piece of engine!
After all, there's no place like home.. Home is where the heart is.. and so, all of yesterday kept coming back to me! No one was expecting me back home for another twenty days, and I'd already started making plans of surprising my friends. This, that, boom! I'd promised myself.. that someday, I would go back to my dream village, and reminisce the good ol' days, and on the road to my destiny, I was chalking each and every move of mine in animated joy!
Our flight luckily didn't 've any delay problems, and in a good two hours, we could see the Mumbai horizon. I was so excited to not miss a single moment of my city that Stew and I were actually sharing the same window seat! If not for the seat belt, I'd probably 've broken through the window, and done a crash landing into Thane Creek. Aah, thank god for air travel precautionary measures. At 2215hours, we marked our entry into a 28*C atmosphere of home, and when I left the confines of the air-conditioned air plane, into the blue-skin smell of belonging, with a slight shower overhead, I recalled the wise man's words about the smell of the different air: the worst good smell in the world.. And, I knew it then, as I know it now.. I was home, recalled to life.
