It has been
almost 5 months that I’ve not properly sat down to write my experience away
from home. I’ve stayed away from home even before but this has been the
farthest I’ve ever been. I’d at least go home and spend some time with my family.
It’s been a total isolation here staying 60kms away from city and not being
able to go out regularly just for one simple reason that; it’s too hot to step
outside the air-conditioned classrooms and too cold to stay inside all the
while. This climatic jeopardy is driving most of us insane, procrastinating and
unproductive (at times). Adding to all these agonies, my phone network is drop-dead
pathetic and there is nothing happening with any of them even after changing
three numbers.
I’ve
befriended a batch of friends who are more or less ‘normal’ and I rule the insanity
ground that is well below the ground level (I
meant ‘PJ’)! The least I’ve liked here is the climate and I am not sure
whether it is supposed to be so lethally extreme every year. What I’ve
liked the most is the campus. This place has proven to be my ‘Shangri La’ wherein I’ve identified the
byproduct of my learning and that is ‘Photography’!
I never knew that I’d fall in love with it and explore the heaven with my
minimally equipped camera. All the options that were available on its tab have
been tried and tested successfully, and I feel happy that I’ve valued what I’d
brought along with me.
About my
friends, I really miss those whom I’ve left behind and strive hard to get in
touch with them every day. Especially, I
felt really sad when I wasn’t able to go to my place when my students called
for their event which was their dream (mine too)! It was still more heart –
rendering to know that one of my closest student had met with an accident and
was seriously injured. He still is fighting with himself to get up and stand on
his feet. I wish I was there with him and did something about it. He is a
strong guy and all he needs is some goddamn support from friends which he has
aplenty. About my friends here, I’ve come here with an intention that I’ll keep
myself happy no-matter-what! That is why I keep cracking the most stupid jokes
of all times and yet get admired (sometimes)! Most of the times I get the “BITCH PLEASE” stare and “GTFO” looks. The only thing they like
about me is…….. (need to figure out yet) I don’t find a strong reason why I
need to intrude in everyone’s private space, but it’s my greed that keeps me
glued to them even if I tend to be repulsive; the greed of being happy all the time.
I’ve been high and I’ve been low, but for all those times, I was never alone.
Our
classroom sessions have been the most amazing experiences till date. Whatever
I’d learnt during my MBA days, I had a hard time initially to unlearn most of
the stuff, but everything I learnt here was awesome, thrilling and
mindboggling. One interesting thing I discovered here was the use of a new weapon
called, “Roget’s Thesaurus”! Words
are in clusters and there are constellation of synonyms unused and
unidentified. The song that we’re in love is “arziyaan” from Delhi 6.
It has become like our daily prayer and I’ve become an official “Memory Treasurer”! I am just trying to
love and live ‘my’ life at this place
and that’s all. All the emotional attachments I’ve had earlier have given
nostalgic inflictions and I am not that receptive to such nuisances.
What I’ve
been enjoying the most in these classroom sessions are; the Mac Lab sessions which keep us chilled
and quiet (because of the A/C) and
the badminton sessions (because of which
I stay a bit active). My normal day is like, breakfast – class – tea –
class – lunch – class – snacks – facebook – dinner – badminton – assignments (if interested to do) – think whether to
sleep or not – sleep – think what’s new tomorrow – sleep finally. Most of our
inspiration comes from the fear of not
getting a job besides studying in one of the best institutes in India. The
standards to which they teach (sharing
experiences as they say) is far more higher than our scale of normal
understanding and it’s a good sign that we are understanding and coming up to
that level. Our failures are more interesting because most of the fun we have
is in that course of time.
I don’t
really know how I will take my journey forward from here. The footprints we all
are leaving behind will surely be our signature moves, but the only thing we’ll
regret is, we’re here for just a couple of months. Another 2 months and we are
out of this institute, and no more I can have a glance of the bunch of peacocks
straying in the cricket stadium, a gang of monkeys howling over the mango trees
and throwing those eaten fruits on the concrete pathway. No more Chhota Canteen and I can no more take
pictures of fallen leaves and still objects because the next batch of PGP
students will arrive soon and many new faces will be waiting to see what
madness this batch has to offer. We’ve always been termed ‘creative’ in
everything that we do, but sometimes we are normal and that’s completely out of
sight. We too feel sad, we too are serious and most of all, we too love to be
together. All the grudges we develop in this short span of time will soon because
life is very hard to live alone (as long as we’re here). Hatred is always
ignored and transformed to new relationships rather than despised and watered
with malice.
My stay
here is only with the sole purpose to make the most of it in all the possible
ways. Learning as much as I can, not only from faculties, but from friends from
different cultures, different emotional pallets and most importantly, from
different age groups. I thought I’d not get a single friend who’d get along
with me because of the age difference, but it’s nice to see that they have
found the easy way out. I’ve failed yet again to tell them that ‘staying’ with me and ‘being’ with me are two completely
different things. Both are never the same and they will never be. That was a ‘brief’ ME, after 5 months of “Creative” diet.
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