They say I’m no good at
recollections. It's not facile without
Dumbledore’s Pensieve so there’s a chance I might lumber through some
trifling details. But with all my might, I hereby challenge what they think. I
now sketch out my sixteen weeks stay at Narayanamurthy Center of Excellence, Mysore, Karnataka.
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| The magnificent GEC2 Building |
Upon entering, I immediately drew parallels with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The majestic GEC2 building like that old castle, the food court at basement 2 replicates the Grand Hall, the ID cards had replaced wands and we flew on LadyBirds instead of brooms. In this world of magic time really flew very fast.
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| My Heart Shaped Idli |
Besides reveling in the food
and flavours, January witnessed me in sheer awe. The grandeur of the campus
engulfed me, the cleanliness surprised me, and infrastructure blew my mind
away. Riding bicycles was cool all over again. The heat didn’t bother, neither
did the color or the bicycles’ name. Days were lost in the maze of
those gruelling classes and bulky assignments. And sleep majorly ruled all of my
nights. My ties with friends back home were loosening but I couldn’t spare time
to think.
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| The beautiful GEC2 Library |
Also happened the part I detest,
meeting new people and striking a chord. It’s not that there was a paucity of
odious habits, oh there were many I turned a blind eye to. All because I
appreciate the diversity. But I always preferred solitude that, with every
passing day, was becoming elusive.
Nevertheless, I got to spend
a lot of time walking too. So I grew fonder of music, fonder of everything distant,
of everyone afar.
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| The Multiplex |
February didn’t live up to its
name. The shortest month seemed immensely long. The course grew tougher and the
sleeping hours vanished away. Towards its end the course demised, and project allocation occurred. That threw my
colleagues in a frenzy with some of them voicing how ecstatic or not they were with their project
partners. Fretting over things not in hand? I wasn’t one of them.
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| Oh yes, I've won some hearts |
March saw us with
documentation completion and first-phase evaluations. Few relations then were
turning sour. I never chose to dissolve the acidity
that had crept in, I never tampered with things already straining. But many other relations were blooming. I met with people who got along well and taught me things no man could. Sometimes clarity in thoughts occurs while you are least aware of receiving it. It just happens. Like a light bulb glowed, and inundated you with ideas. Yes, I was fortunate enough to find such folks.Demo
development consumed the rest of March’s days, an act I ventured into solo,
with close-to-nil assistance.
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| Thick clouds robbed the sky's azure. |
The colors mixed on the
palette may not always be good, but does that diminish the painter’s
perspicuity? Has the sorcerer been robbed of his sleight of hand? Has his vision failed
him, failed to win others over? I guess not. Drawing parallels, my professional
group had only me putting painstaking efforts and the remaining blaming the
not-so-glorious results.
Meanwhile our mentor running
away and afflicting us with the onus to complete the project under a new guide,
who knew just as much about it as Paris Hilton knows about quantum physics, was
another nail in the coffin. New mentor’s blatantly bashing our demo using
phrases so acetic was no encouragement either. I found his comments rather
reactionary.
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| The gorgeous GEC1 building |
I foresaw that the demo
required what until now we had kept it devoid of, teamwork. My one-man army was
on slithering grounds, it needed aid, it needed freedom from such levity.
By April’s end, I had my
mother’s hand cooked delicacies deviate my mind midday, I longed for my father
to rebuff me and to call me all those usually intolerable words. The ache in my guts I endured
while missing my family was getting harder.
May was the month of
goodbyes. To the friends I’d earned, to the opulence of the campus and to the accumulated
bitterness inside. My time here was drawing to an end. Only 7 days of May were keeping me away from all the things I was, keeping me away from where I belong. 7 more days and I'd be back to
where my heart is, back to the two good old souls who had lived the last few days envisioning
my return. On May 8, I landed at Chandigarh Airport to see them wearing
smiles. Smiles that warm I long had missed, smiles so pure I could cry.
Those
May goodbyes had borne this fruit, they had brought me back to life.
