I only have two weeks left before I fly away to the US of A for my Masters. Will be gone for two years.
I had some work at a bank today. Now this bank, lies almost on the sea-front of Vizag. I was there early and since Indian banks DO NOT open up before time even if you put a gun to the manager’s head- I ended up with some spare time. I decided to take a stroll on the beach road. As I was walking, I noticed a number of tall buildings on the sea-front. There were trees blocking my view of the sea.....and I reeeealy wanted to view the sea. It had been a long time since I had visited the sea and said my helloz to the crashing waves.
I came up with a plan to have my wish granted. I decided to go onto the roof of one of these 5 storied-buildings and catch the majestic sea-view from up there. I zeroed in on one apartment complex...chiefly because after walking past the building thrice, I was pretty sure that the watchman could not see me since he was in his small dwelling behind the flight of stairs. I casually strolled into the apartment complex and walked towards the stairs. I started climbing. Almost none of the flats had any nameplates on. I desperately wanted a name plate so that if the apartment watchman caught me on my way down and started asking me who is it that I was here to meet—then I’d simply tell the name of the flat-owner and the flat number. Finally after climbing 6 flight of stairs, I reached the fourth floor where I saw a nameplate of a doctor. “Lucky me!” , I thought, I’d simply say to the curious watchman- that Dr.X (let’s just call him that) was my doctor and I had come to see him regarding a treatment he had told me about. I quickly memorized the flat number and proceeded on towards the rooftop. Huffing and puffing, I finally reached the roof and opened the door (which was luckily open) which led on to the terrace.
The sight was as beautiful as I had expected. The blue sea was right in front of me staring at me with all its watery might. There were several ships dotting the horizon as usual, along with some small fishing boats here and there. The wind was pretty strong at this height. I found a comfortable set of stairs for me to sit on and just stared into the blueness of the sea.
As I sat there in the light of the setting golden sun, enjoying the lovely sea-breeze brushing my face and staring at the beauty of the ocean- I started thinking about the people and things I’d miss when leave this place for a good two years.
The list of things and people I’ll miss just kept growing and growing. I would miss Hyderabad- it’s fast (but not super-fast) lifestyle, I’ll miss it’s huge and glitzy shopping malls into which I'd regularly stroll into to help me pass time, I’ll miss the new house into which me and Goli had moved into only a month ago (will miss it’s red wall), I’ll miss my Dell friends who also became my closest buddies in Hyderabad- Lambu (Ayesha) and Karthik (will miss having coffee with them on breaks that almost always extended the set time-limit, I’ll miss my roomie and my bro Goli who tolerated me for a good eight months (his weird moods and his stories about office and how they were sucking his brains out), I’ll DEFINITELY miss from Hyderabad- my closest friend Vio- with whom I spent most of my last few days in Hyderabad having coffee at CCD or Gloria Jean’s coffee and talking so much that I now wonder if there’s actually anything left that she doesn’t know about me.Will miss my pals Sid(me verbally abusing him when he doesn't answer my calls or mails...but this will continue even after me leaving India- lolz) and Murali(his stone-faced reactions to everything I say or do..), Rev(M!!).Sid, Rev and NOS already stay away from me, ie- they don't stay in Hyderabad....I missed all these guys when I was in Hyd itself....so going away to US would only add to the 'weight of missing them' even more.
I slowly realized that there were a lot many things about India that I will definitely miss, but that’s life I guess. I truly believe that one should keep moving on in life and not spend his entire life in one place. As a proof of ‘I practise what I preach’- I FYI have changed 10 (schools and universities put together) alma-maters since my childhood and this (MS in USA) was going to append itself to this long list. Life is all about adapting to changes taking place around you---changes that take place with every breath that comes out of your lungs. You can’t just sit and brood over all the things that you will be missing- instead we should cherish all the beautiful moments we had with those people and in those places that made it worth missing them.
Kudos to all my friends who made my stay in Hyderabad a blast ....LOVE YOU ALL.....
:O)
Peace...
