Worth The Wait

Something happens in your life, something significant. You want to capture that moment for future. But you wait. Wait to see if that moment really matters to you that much a few days, weeks, and months down the line.

I had been meaning to write this post for quite some time but couldn’t for a range of reasons. Firstly, the new work life I have embraced took the better of my time and the second, more important reason for not writing this till now was that I wanted to see how long could the feelings last. Would they last after a month has passed? As I pen this down, I have a resounding yes to that question in my mind.

13^th March 2014 was the day when the final touch was applied as to how my next two years were going to pan out. Funnily enough, the same date, two years later, I was chalking out the details for my next couple (at least) of years.

Back then, I left my home of 21 years for a new city, a new place in quest of my first step towards what I set out to achieve in life. Little did I expect that what I would take away with me from the journey won’t be degrees and certificates (FYI, I didn’t fail, final results are awaited!) but experiences, memories and people. While that may sound like a clichéd phrase, here’s why I think it’s important to mention it – I have always been a private, reticent person. I am not an extrovert, I don’t party like people my age do and don’t usually talk much. So when I say that these last two years at SIMC, Pune gave me some memories which were all made special because of the people around me at that time, I really mean it.

I made friends with the most unexpected of people, bonded with a few over cricket, got the first taste of hostel life, went to those “trendy” places and was lucky enough to be taken there quite a few times despite me being a non alcoholic – non vegetarian – non abusive – yet a Delhi lad with a Punjabi accent – perhaps I was not that bad a company after all!

Be it my room-mates in the hostel or the fellow classmates or the people I played cricket with or the various campus staff – they all left an imprint on me – something I hadn’t expected to happen when I stepped foot here. Most importantly, these two years made me discover a side of me that I never thought existed. They made me feel emotions which I thought weren’t configured in me by default.

Yes, they gave me the opportunities to do what I always wished for – be a storyteller, be the anchor at an event, lead a team, represent my institute in cricket, do good, creative work and be appreciated for the same. Now when I see a video or short film, I know what all goes behind making it & have been lucky enough to be a small part of it. But above all, these last two years also gave me, rather blessed me with a lot of pleasant serendipitous surprises.

Those informal interactions, impromptu discussions, evenings spent talking, late night walks, collaborating on assignments, working day and night to make an event successful, early mornings on the field, last minute plans, spontaneous trips.. I can go and on.  I found someone whom I could trust with my life, someone who gave me the strength I never knew I needed and never thought anyone could, someone I am deeply grateful to have met despite our personalities being poles apart. These are the memories, these are the kinds of people that this secluded hill in some corner of Maharashtra gave me and I will cherish them for times to come.

Has my personality changed? Have my habits? No. I am still that non alcoholic – non vegetarian – non abusive – yet a Delhi lad with a Punjabi accent who understands life a lot better and appreciates the little things a lot more now.

Someday I will go deep into sharing exact instances which punctuated my life at SIMC, but I will end this post here. Yes I left something behind when I bid adieu, but I took a lot with me.

2 years, 1 month & 27 days ago... when I was applying the final touches as to how my next two years would pan out, little did I know what was in store for me.

I left my home of two years over a month ago. I saw my fellow batch mates share their experiences, their feelings via pictures, notes, status updates and poems. I waited to see if my feelings would stand strong amidst the chores of my new life. They did. As I pen this down, that wait seems totally worth it.

Until next time..
Take Care :)