July 31, 2019
Almost 18 years back, a young girl who liked studying for the sake of enjoying her books along with her part time job of ‘झाड़ू-पोंछा’ suddenly got pushed into the outside world which she had no clue about.
On a hot midsummer day, when her boards result was supposed to be out, late in the evening while she was thinking ‘first division to aa hi jayegi’ and dancing, her father comes home very excited and tells her that she had come first in the state. Along with him were a few ‘Amar Ujala’ reporters who asked her some stupid questions on what she wanted to do in life and what she thinks about politics. Having no clue of exactly what she could do, she gave the usual answer that someone who studied Maths and Science in intermediate would give - she wants to be an engineer. Next morning she looked at the newspaper with her picture along with her occupational aspirations thrown there, she felt like a ‘wanted’ criminal who now needed to hide somewhere and really start looking for an engineering college. Her childhood dream of becoming a teacher crumbled in a moment.
Life was very straightforward all this while. Go to school, pass the exams, move to the next class. She hadn't thought anything beyond her class to class movements. Then from somewhere a divine grace was granted and some family friends mentioned that there exists a college called BITS Pilani. Until that moment, neither she nor her family was aware of BITS' existence :). They were those typical small town people who had no clue about the world outside of their clan. Before they could do anything, they realized she had missed the deadline to apply for the 2001 year when she could have got in. She had a sense of regret as well as hopelessness until they got connected to a Pilani Alumni who told them about the second semester admissions. She applied for the second semester and crossed her fingers. Around November 2001, she sat down in front of a cyber cafe computer to look at the results. Her mom's inner conflict was questioning ‘isn't she too young to go that far?’. After all these years, she may be away from home, she still longs for the same smell of eucalyptus trees, the winter and the sun, the heavier than herself razai and her cup of adrak wali chai with carefree moments.
Coming back to my own story and how I physically got transported to Pilani in the first week of Jan 2002. Peak north indian winter and the gloomy foggy weather in Delhi and Pilani wasn’t the best thing. Our overnight bus from Haldwani to Delhi got delayed due to an accident on the way and kept us waiting for several hours on the road. Then we waited 4-5 hours at Delhi bus station to find a bus to Pilani. The ride from Delhi to Pilani scared my mom more and I think she probably also thought of bringing me back with her. Then the BITS campus and our comfortable stay at VFAST guest house that night likely changed her perception and I was left at the hostel on my own the next day. It's been a long journey living away from home on my own but had been worth it. Not everything was as straightforward as life before Pilani but worth it regardless.
