Day 185/366

You just can't get sick of meeting your school friends. And I've been to both a city school and a boarding school and this statement just holds more value for the latter (though many who never got to experience boarding life would disagree to this).

Be it the hostel life where you spend hours discussing a film you just watched or gifting someone with a 4-cake pack of Maggi that you had been hiding for a special friend's birthday at midnight. It's a simplified sort of fun that was devoid of the highs and lows of college life. Of course, if you were (un)fortunate enough, you might have got a flavor of the kind of pleasures you could truly enjoy once you're out of school while you were still there. But for me, it was almost entirely a vice-free time.

Paper chats during prep when the teacher wasn't looking, begging the annas and akkas mid-week for a cup of filter coffee which you were allowed only on Sunday mornings, enjoying sunsets without a camera nearby, smiles or just sticking your tongue out replacing and conveying a whole lot more than text messages/emoticons of today...That's what it was all about. And though I've shaped myself into the society I live in now, those are the things I really miss sometimes.

Seeing those faces that made that place the home that it was sure can make you want that life again. And yet, you have to accept that your experiences and interactions with the world outside that little bubble has changed you as a person completely. Still, it's nice to know that some things never change.

Day 156/366

There used to be a charm about this place. In fact, that was the case with every place I've stayed at for even the shortest period of time - something characteristic about it that I fell in love with.

In Bangalore, I can pinpoint Corner House's Hot Chocolate Fudge (HCF) that is like a food orgasm for me. Or maybe the quiet lanes & bylanes of Sadashivnagar, where I usually stay. Calcutta has a whole bunch of things - the ferry rides, the singhadas and cha at little tapris on every corner, the winter fog, the sweet sound of the peoples' language. In Rishi Valley, it was everything about the place and more so, the kind of people one could talk to on the most random topics around. Pune was a place of two extremes - it was either too chilled out (house parties/'chilling scenes' & gigs at High Spirits every Friday) or endless hours on campus, which became like a second home.

What I'm getting at is that the charm of places tend to fade with time. OR it gets reinforced very strongly if you return to a place and fall in love with it (again?). I've not had the privilege of experiencing the latter. Yet.

School isn't the same without my friends and teachers even though the hills haven't changed. I no longer have a house in Pune to go back to, making it a less familiar city in my mind. Calcutta, I've realized, can only be truly enjoyed in the winter. (Though I'm secretly hoping that the oncoming monsoons will make me change my mind on that.) Bangalore is a city I'd love to explore more though it alienates me often enough.

Despite all these ups and downs, I'm glad that I left my base and went to see the world outside my sheltered living. I've moved around enough to be in a position where I don't know which place I can really call 'home'.  But I'm quite sure I'm better off than a lot of people who have always been stuck in the same place mingling with the same people and talking about the same thing. They're caught up in the same bloody routine day in day out. I'm just glad I've broken out of that rut. And now, possibly the greatest adventure of my life awaits me. And I can't wait to get started & find my place in the world!

Day 71/366

At Home in the Hills

The beauty of the hills, 

The shyness of the stars,

The fading glow of sunset,

The music of the night.

Taking a nap in the sun,

Or on a damp rock after the rain,

Memories made in boarding school,

Too beautiful to explain.