In the past two months, life has undergone a sea change. Till June, earlier this year I was in the process of becoming a bachelor, now I am one, with an additional tag of unemployed. And as if one and a half months of self-grating was not enough, I have landed in Delhi in order to see if I am really…employable. In between the calls (not that there have been too many) and a boring-like-hell schedule I have been eagerly noticing the sharp turns that my life here continues to take. Here, I try to gauge some:
• Unlike college, I am not the first one to rise from the bed – my partner has a class early in the morning and he doesn’t bunk it (yeah…KECians have started studying over here). He’s the one who wakes me up (and it’s a welcome change); I was the one who did that in college to him.
• The water supply is abundant, and one does not have to keep the buckets filled for ‘emergencies’!!!
• There is no more ready breakfast on the mess table; one has to get some from the market – an early outing ensured.
• The paranthas cost only Rs. 5 as compared to 10 back in college. Even the chai is Rs. 3 not 4 and almost double in quantity.
• Newspaper comes at 6 in the morning unlike KEC where by the time you really get to know the world around…it’as already moved by 180 degrees!!!
• No one charges Rs. 2 extra to keep the cold drink ‘cold’ and ice cream ‘iced’!
• A silent valley, occasionally echoed by the sounds of remote car or temple has given way to non-stop screams, cries and honking horns.
• What used to be a lonely walk in the campus is now a quest to reach one’s destination unscathed in the swarming ocean of people.
• Everyone knew everyone in campus and good evenings, good mornings of first years and the hi’s and hello’s of others were some things that punctuated the journey from Kailash to Mehra’s. Here, none knows any and even if they do – ignorance is bliss.
• The girls who wore salwar-kurtas and jeans tops in college would be hailed from Stone Age here. Tank tops, spaghettis and everything & anything out of the blue is ubercool and ‘in trend’ here. (Not that I am/was complaining)
• Spiky or long hair (low waist jeans too) were considered ‘stylo’ in the college and attracted reprimand sessions from the faculty. The one with short cropped hair, having a ‘maang’ on the left can be seen peculiarly seen in the crowd here, everyone else is ‘normal’.
• A 3 km journey from Gochar to Dwarahat that costed Rs. 8 is worth only Rs. 3 here…
• In college, you couldn’t see more than 10 cars a day (including the ones owned by faculty), here I see thousands including Mercedes, Bentley and BMW, Maruti, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda are more than common here.
• Shopkeepers are no more fretting if we go their shops, perturbing their solace, like they did in college. They are more than eager to have us inside and more eager to peep inside our wallets.
• Late night strolls and talks on the phones were the real time to find solace in college and occasionally I had the welcome company of the dogs and jackals. Well…this hasn’t changed much – I still am accompanied by dogs and jackals late nights, only they are disguised as humans. And…I find no solace.
I was ‘a known someone’ back in college and here, I am just another immigrant trying to keep up with the pace of bustling life in the capital, struggling to carve out a niche for myself- a career, a destiny, a life…
I miss you – KEC Dwarahat, I miss you badly!!! But, heck…I am too excited to be in the capital…
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