Tales from my Solitude -4

It was 2014 spring. Bangalore city is indeed so colorful and fragrant. I became more understanding towards this world and about myself. My mates were extremely well-to-do, where as I had to support my weekend siestas on my own . I began working post my college hours for those little joys and eat outs in the weekends. I began teaching people, who had not so fine communication skills, not children, but adults. In the process I learnt so much , myself. I had English in my bachelors degree too, so it helped me at large for this. They say, Almighty always has His plan for us, and so there it was. I taught in the evenings, did college in the mornings and nights were those peaceful time, when I watched the starry sky and the beauty of moon from the terrace and imagined how life is blessed.

I waited for a suitable job, without knowing what would it be. I had no idea what would I do, what would suit me the best, my campus placements failed at large. I didn't pass any of the tests in campus campaigning, yet I had the spirit to survive this vast city, without any keen on leaving it. I was called for an interview for the first time in my life, I was 22 , just 22. I met a member of interview panel for the first time, and was nervous. I don't know what must have I spoken in the interview , I cleared it. I was selected in a job of HR. I wrote my last exam on 5th of April 2014, and joined this small firm on 7th April 2014. I was remunerated a sum of 10,804 Rs per month. The journey of 3 long years of my studies in college was terminated  and a life  to the real world began.

This life had a blend of emotional binge, worldly desires and hardships. I woke up 8 in the morning, had breakfast made of idly and coconut chutney and walked for a straight 40 minutes to work. This saved my money for transport and also, helped me remain fit.Holding my umbrella up, i walked towards a life that had happiness and taste of hardship both. My intent was to work hard towards success. Things seemed fall in place very easy, or not so easy. I didn't have my family members in here with me, I was in a distant land, struggling with my destiny alone. Passers by in life came and left, but my own life remained intact with me. I returned home at 7:45 PM and hogged on a platter of rice, roti and pulses and green vegetable curry. Only Lord knows what was the taste of the food, cause I used to be hungry like a refugee would be at her camp, and gobbled up the meal like there is no tomorrow. And by 9 PM , I began snoring, as if any wand would have chanted some spells over me and I delved in slumber with no sense at all. My room mates told me tales of how ignorant I was about what happened otherwise. I am sure, the terrace missed me, so did the sky filled with stars and a bright moon. I lived a life of discipline and austerity. In the blink of my eyes, the spring of the year passed, so did the summer and monsoons. The umbrella that I had, witnessed all, and it was the dawn of the beautiful autumn. My favorite season arrived. Autumn and winter spell the most beautiful tale of the year and perhaps, my destiny had in store something out there.

the leaves of the cherry blossom trees in the city shed off, and a new fragrance arrived in my life. What is a life if there aint any phase and a cycle. I love my life as it took me uphill and showed me the darkness and the silence of the burrow too. The rolling stone moved on, and hence gathered no moss still.

My girlhood

Summer vacation in our days back in home was from mid- May and that would last for 6-7 weeks. Calcutta is extremely hot during summers. Like children these days, I wasn't fortunate enough to holiday abroad, playing with blue waters and canoeing the island waters. I belong to a middle class Bengali family, rich in culture and heritage and arts. My mother sang, danced , my father wrote scripts, and he was good in recitation and playing tabla. My grandfather was an engineer in British army then and later Indian army.He too supported us at large to perform. Summer vacation was a lot of time, to perform a dance drama at the courtyard in our house.

The whole neighborhood rose to excitement to make this event happen successfully. Afternoons were too hot to begin with any rehearsals, hence we reserved our rehearsal for the evenings. Cool breeze accompanied us to perform "chitrangada" or "Shyama" ( Tagore dance dramas). We chose our expanded terrace, where the women assembled to sing and dance and make merry to the good times.
Men helped us narrating and providing cues. These days neighbors turned to one big family, helping each other with logistics and supplies. We ate together over lentil soup and rice with potato fries, and pointed gourds. The very Bengali lunch and dinner. During the rains, we would go to the fish market and buy the best Hilsa and ma would make the best hilsa curry with white mustard seeds and a sumptuous fish-eggs fry. Only a Bengali would relate to the taste of this dish during the rains. We gossiped about the lad and the lass hooking up over the practice and laughed our heart out to the melodramatic love story that wouldn't last long.

The final day of program, we would dress up, paint our faces with cosmetics and "alta" on our palms and feet. the hard work would be paid off with a platter of kachori and aloo curry, that tasted heaven after the performance. We didn't have social media then to upload the pictures that we clicked. The prints would have to wait for a week's time, till the camera person provide us the hard copies of the beautiful memories.

Life was ecstasy around the cultural bringing up that happened to us. I owe a lot to the family that I belonged to, especially my mother , who would take initiative at large for make such events happen.