It began 6 years back, on boarding in an Indigo flight, that carried me to this city. I don't know if all teenagers think the way, I thought back then. Raised in an environment filled with strictures, my soul needed to breathe. My nights were restless battling with the rules and regulations in a family that had no son. Daughters were to be raised composed and sedated, hence my parents imprisoned me to a old typical Calcutta house that we lived. "Not allowed" was the term that I and my sister grew up listening and was an obvious reply to any request made. Escaping was the outlet that I had to find at my 18. had to move to a new city The reason had to add on a degree, well then , this degree was just a a cheese for the rat in my life , valued nothing more , could think nothing better .
Stepped in a new city, led to an independent living ! I was eager and waiting for this all my life. Hence, the chunks of depression, sorrow or a little heartbreak were removed from my face value and disguised under a happy smiling , jovial lady of 18. The University norms were enough to keep me occupied the entire day. The colossal campus encouraged me to delve in the beauty of the concretes. The course engaged my evenings in the library of the 9th floor building of the central block. The evening read and the view was amazing . I could see a bit of Bangalore, the busy traffic and the flyover that connects Richmond road . I loved to wade though the pages of Sociology books, loved the theories by Darwin on Social Change, the postulation of the theory of idiosyncrasy, mores, and so many stuffs. Actually came to Christ University with a passion in Psychology, but later fell for Sociology and of course my Literature classes. Not only the taste of subjects , I discovered a loads of changes in my attitude, cognition, fallacy within me and reinvented myself in a new way.
Mingling with friends was a tougher task than walking through the roads of Koramangala alone. Well yes , talking of South Bangalore. For about first 5 months , had passed my hours reading books, passing through a new block of area to the other , discovering the claustrophobic me in the public buses , got down and rather chose walking to my destination. The city was so damn expensive for a 18 year old. The pocket money disappeared in no time. The delicacy was to buy a 100 gms of Jalebis from a road side vendor at Rs 6, or devouring over a plate of egg dosa. The south Indian cuisine was still getting on my nerves, lived as a paying guest with an Assamese warden in charge. The explanation of the taste of the food is indescribable today! had to gulp in the sambhar that made no sense to a Bengali well - fed girl, and the rasam was not even something we would ask our stray dog to taste. The dinner was chappati and tomato sabji, a curry that has only tomatoes and nothing else , probably the last thing I could dream of in my little world of 18 years .Tears rolled down my cheeks, but never intended to miss home. Well, yes with freedom comes responsibilities , and sacrifices too.
My mid term paper was good and my class mates started recognizing me . Met a very chubby pink girl, sitting at the back bench of my class. She was short, round , pink on her cheeks, who smiled at me and wanted to do a project with me. Thank God , she spoke or else I would have starved myself without friends. She wore everything pink that day , a girl of my age from Kerala. I got to know about a Malayali for the first time. The tales of coconut, Mohanlal, Kuchipudi, banana chips, Vishu, Onam and of course fish fries! I tasted similarity and loved this lady's attitude towards my life. My solitude witnessed a spark of light . She is a famous lady in campus, God knows why and how everyone knows her. She was very rich and dared not speak a single word that comes to her mind .I observed her for sometime , for few days and discovered the other half of mine in her . I was so quite, always sitting on first bench, listening to lectures, a monotonousness in me throughout, but may be I wasn't the way I led my life. may be I too wanted to speak my mind at any given place, to any given person, may be I would also want to be that jovial and cheerful always. She told me, she thought Im a nerd and didn't want to mingle initially, and I felt that I need a change in me.
Im not a nerd, don't intend to be one, I too want to open my hair against the air and smile outside the window pane of the car and close my eyes and breathe the cold winds of the cold mornings. I too want to feel the chilled air through my nostrils, my hair strands, my vain and discover myself outside the campus and the library, and the course. She asked me if I would like to travel with her and friends to Nandi hills ? My answer in no time was " Yes" ! Probably that was my first step to unfolding the strong packaging within myself , the packaging of a little world that I came from, the little knowledge that I had about the world, people and their culture, that was the beginning to break free, may be the real reason behind moving away from Calcutta and my family.
Stepped in a new city, led to an independent living ! I was eager and waiting for this all my life. Hence, the chunks of depression, sorrow or a little heartbreak were removed from my face value and disguised under a happy smiling , jovial lady of 18. The University norms were enough to keep me occupied the entire day. The colossal campus encouraged me to delve in the beauty of the concretes. The course engaged my evenings in the library of the 9th floor building of the central block. The evening read and the view was amazing . I could see a bit of Bangalore, the busy traffic and the flyover that connects Richmond road . I loved to wade though the pages of Sociology books, loved the theories by Darwin on Social Change, the postulation of the theory of idiosyncrasy, mores, and so many stuffs. Actually came to Christ University with a passion in Psychology, but later fell for Sociology and of course my Literature classes. Not only the taste of subjects , I discovered a loads of changes in my attitude, cognition, fallacy within me and reinvented myself in a new way.
Mingling with friends was a tougher task than walking through the roads of Koramangala alone. Well yes , talking of South Bangalore. For about first 5 months , had passed my hours reading books, passing through a new block of area to the other , discovering the claustrophobic me in the public buses , got down and rather chose walking to my destination. The city was so damn expensive for a 18 year old. The pocket money disappeared in no time. The delicacy was to buy a 100 gms of Jalebis from a road side vendor at Rs 6, or devouring over a plate of egg dosa. The south Indian cuisine was still getting on my nerves, lived as a paying guest with an Assamese warden in charge. The explanation of the taste of the food is indescribable today! had to gulp in the sambhar that made no sense to a Bengali well - fed girl, and the rasam was not even something we would ask our stray dog to taste. The dinner was chappati and tomato sabji, a curry that has only tomatoes and nothing else , probably the last thing I could dream of in my little world of 18 years .Tears rolled down my cheeks, but never intended to miss home. Well, yes with freedom comes responsibilities , and sacrifices too.
My mid term paper was good and my class mates started recognizing me . Met a very chubby pink girl, sitting at the back bench of my class. She was short, round , pink on her cheeks, who smiled at me and wanted to do a project with me. Thank God , she spoke or else I would have starved myself without friends. She wore everything pink that day , a girl of my age from Kerala. I got to know about a Malayali for the first time. The tales of coconut, Mohanlal, Kuchipudi, banana chips, Vishu, Onam and of course fish fries! I tasted similarity and loved this lady's attitude towards my life. My solitude witnessed a spark of light . She is a famous lady in campus, God knows why and how everyone knows her. She was very rich and dared not speak a single word that comes to her mind .I observed her for sometime , for few days and discovered the other half of mine in her . I was so quite, always sitting on first bench, listening to lectures, a monotonousness in me throughout, but may be I wasn't the way I led my life. may be I too wanted to speak my mind at any given place, to any given person, may be I would also want to be that jovial and cheerful always. She told me, she thought Im a nerd and didn't want to mingle initially, and I felt that I need a change in me.
Im not a nerd, don't intend to be one, I too want to open my hair against the air and smile outside the window pane of the car and close my eyes and breathe the cold winds of the cold mornings. I too want to feel the chilled air through my nostrils, my hair strands, my vain and discover myself outside the campus and the library, and the course. She asked me if I would like to travel with her and friends to Nandi hills ? My answer in no time was " Yes" ! Probably that was my first step to unfolding the strong packaging within myself , the packaging of a little world that I came from, the little knowledge that I had about the world, people and their culture, that was the beginning to break free, may be the real reason behind moving away from Calcutta and my family.
