Nothing is permanent but change!
Its not me but the ancient Greek philospher Heraclitus who first said 2500 years ago. Somewhere deep down inside us, we dont want to change. Change kicks us out of our cosy, comfortable existence that we have got used to and makes us start all over again.
It was the morning of 11th April 1988. I was small boy (most probably a crying small boy) was begging my father not to take me to school. School was a big red building, far away from home. The people were all new and scary. Hell ! Everybody even spoke in English, something which was yet again NEW. The first few days (weeks ? months ?) were pure hell. I didnt have any idea what was going on, I just knew that I had to go to someplace in the morning and would be back home in the afternoon. I didnt know ANYONE in that damned place. Speaking in Hindi was discouraged which was extremely unsettling.
Gradually things changed (yeah that word is going to crop up many times) -- for the better. I got friendly with one or two other people. Its nice to know that I am in touch with one of them even today. A senior at school was my neighbour and we were really good friends for the next 10 years. Newer friends were made, old friendships were forgotten. Going to the next class was a ritual that was followed in an uninteruppted manner for the next 10 years. The 10th boards were a minor hiccup in the scheme of things. But mostly they were a gentle kick, the kind I talked about earlier, to serve as a reminder for the future.
Having followed a simple process of elimination in all academic choices, I decided to take Science and with it came the accompanying baggage of preparing for JEE. Lots of classmates were going to various coaching classes and a lot of discussion in school revolved around various things that happened there. Life was going along happily, till another kick landed me at a coaching class too. Again, I was the loner -- my batch was the weekend one. There were no friends from school who had classes at the same time or even the same place as me. Once again, meeting new people, who as our chemistry teacher said were our dusman.
To cut a long story short, 6th May 2001 was the D Day (please note --- exactly 5 years ago). The day 20000 people fought it out in a day long battle. The upshot of this battle was that yours truly again landed up at a strange place devoid of any friendly faces. Once again, the slow tortuous process of meeting new people and adjusting to new places. The Healthy Interaction of course didnt help much :P.
Anyways, life again settled into its own rhythm and the strange morphed into the familiar. Life consisted of 4 month long semesters with vacations at the end. The semesters themselves consisted of various activities, only some of which had to do with academics. But the change monster struck again with a vengeance. Just as I thought that things couldnt go wrong 4 years were up. Some of my closest friends passed out and went to different corners of the world. I wondered how us dullas were going to pass the final year. Things werent so bad as I imagined. Alot of people were posted around Delhi and many turned up every weekend, leaving us confused if they had left at all. And somehow, this last year has almost passed too.
Surely but slowly, the biggest kick was coming my way. The transformation from student life to corporate life. The care free life of a student, with its time bound promotions and big vacations, the freedom to bunk classes whenever you want, the long nights spent on pointless discussions -- all this is about to be taken away ( not the pointless discussions probably, but pretty much everything else).
The only difference is that this time round, I am prepared how things will change. I was too small to comprehend the school change. Change after school was filled with uncertainities. But atleast I have some idea of where I am going to go after IIT so this change is not so random. The same old process will be started again.
Which brings us back to the biggest change --- leaving my home of than 20 years, the city that I have grown used for a new place with different climate, culture and language. The extremes of Delhi's climate will be missed as will jerky rides in buses, no respect for traffic rules etc etc. But thats a different story altogether, which will be penned probably in 2-3 months.
Practice makes a man perfect but probably one is never perfectly equiped to handle change. Tackling change has taught me one thing - resistance is futile. Sure some things are permanent but they are not particulary nice (depending on ur POV). As Benjamin Franklin once said - "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Food for thought ? ;)
It was the morning of 11th April 1988. I was small boy (most probably a crying small boy) was begging my father not to take me to school. School was a big red building, far away from home. The people were all new and scary. Hell ! Everybody even spoke in English, something which was yet again NEW. The first few days (weeks ? months ?) were pure hell. I didnt have any idea what was going on, I just knew that I had to go to someplace in the morning and would be back home in the afternoon. I didnt know ANYONE in that damned place. Speaking in Hindi was discouraged which was extremely unsettling.
Gradually things changed (yeah that word is going to crop up many times) -- for the better. I got friendly with one or two other people. Its nice to know that I am in touch with one of them even today. A senior at school was my neighbour and we were really good friends for the next 10 years. Newer friends were made, old friendships were forgotten. Going to the next class was a ritual that was followed in an uninteruppted manner for the next 10 years. The 10th boards were a minor hiccup in the scheme of things. But mostly they were a gentle kick, the kind I talked about earlier, to serve as a reminder for the future.
Having followed a simple process of elimination in all academic choices, I decided to take Science and with it came the accompanying baggage of preparing for JEE. Lots of classmates were going to various coaching classes and a lot of discussion in school revolved around various things that happened there. Life was going along happily, till another kick landed me at a coaching class too. Again, I was the loner -- my batch was the weekend one. There were no friends from school who had classes at the same time or even the same place as me. Once again, meeting new people, who as our chemistry teacher said were our dusman.
To cut a long story short, 6th May 2001 was the D Day (please note --- exactly 5 years ago). The day 20000 people fought it out in a day long battle. The upshot of this battle was that yours truly again landed up at a strange place devoid of any friendly faces. Once again, the slow tortuous process of meeting new people and adjusting to new places. The Healthy Interaction of course didnt help much :P.
Anyways, life again settled into its own rhythm and the strange morphed into the familiar. Life consisted of 4 month long semesters with vacations at the end. The semesters themselves consisted of various activities, only some of which had to do with academics. But the change monster struck again with a vengeance. Just as I thought that things couldnt go wrong 4 years were up. Some of my closest friends passed out and went to different corners of the world. I wondered how us dullas were going to pass the final year. Things werent so bad as I imagined. Alot of people were posted around Delhi and many turned up every weekend, leaving us confused if they had left at all. And somehow, this last year has almost passed too.
Surely but slowly, the biggest kick was coming my way. The transformation from student life to corporate life. The care free life of a student, with its time bound promotions and big vacations, the freedom to bunk classes whenever you want, the long nights spent on pointless discussions -- all this is about to be taken away ( not the pointless discussions probably, but pretty much everything else).
The only difference is that this time round, I am prepared how things will change. I was too small to comprehend the school change. Change after school was filled with uncertainities. But atleast I have some idea of where I am going to go after IIT so this change is not so random. The same old process will be started again.
Which brings us back to the biggest change --- leaving my home of than 20 years, the city that I have grown used for a new place with different climate, culture and language. The extremes of Delhi's climate will be missed as will jerky rides in buses, no respect for traffic rules etc etc. But thats a different story altogether, which will be penned probably in 2-3 months.
Practice makes a man perfect but probably one is never perfectly equiped to handle change. Tackling change has taught me one thing - resistance is futile. Sure some things are permanent but they are not particulary nice (depending on ur POV). As Benjamin Franklin once said - "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Food for thought ? ;)
posted by anonymous coward at 11:40 am
2 Comments:
"Anyways, life again settled into its own rhythm and the strange morphed into the familiar..."
Fantastic..
Gr8 post mate .....and parts of it all too familiar... leaving Delhi would probably be the biggest change of all , for u I believe...but I guess that's the beauty of life... it never stops surprising you :)
I had no idea you blogged. And well, B'lore shall have only more congested rides and traffic problems for you..hehe.
And nice post. A small crying boy :P.
Post a Comment
<< Home