My Sixth Encounter...

 June '06
June was ending. The train slowed down as it was approaching the final destination after a 37 hour journey. It was drizzling outside. Reached a place called Belapur after one more hour travel. It was windy & pouring outside. Got down and headed for Kharghar to find my new college and the hostel. Clueless about almost everything apart from just one thing. Rains. It was simply all over. My first glance from the auto rickshaw of my new place for study was a great feeling. Throughout dad's stay for three and half days, it kept on raining. We both did not like it, did not dislike as well. 

November '07

The noise in the hostel was dying. Placements started. Rains were almost over. But I remember those quiet nights with the sound of rains falling on the empty plain spaces of Kharghar. The sound of it, the smell and the feeling is beyond words. The feeling of batch-mates leaving each other after two years, the hostel & the college, everything summed up in those drops of rains.

July '08

Life has changed a lot with no more proxies, no more late submission of projects or going for a good place to eat out when the canteen food did not click. Just one fine morning, you find yourself inside a local train. Then you have to get down at a place called Kurla (where it becomes a war-like-situation every morning) which becomes more so awesome in monsoon. After 3 months of work, rains made my life haywire with the first floor of my office almost immersed in water. That year, I had one heck of a journey!

July '09

After my hardship period in the year 2008, God was kind enough to send me to a place which is just just 15 minutes by train and the office was inside the station complex. I still struggled thanks to my habit of reporting late to office. The prime reason was taking things for granted. I always thought I will make it in time, which I could never manage. Monsoon was quite enjoyable from the window panes from my office. Many nostalgic moments have been experienced here.


July-Sept' 10


This monsoon saw many things happening in life, atleast professionally. A job change, a big office location shift, having my first male boss after 3 encounters with female counterparts. Went for a relaxing visit to home, again with my business plans and proposals only to get rejection from Dad, as always. Back to work, new place, and what a day to start, Onam. This particular festival becomes more relevant as my new workplace do have a majority who celebrate it. But you know what, we still do not have a holiday on this day. This precisely was the beginning of a time, when I became a workaholic even in terms of the no. of hours spent in the office. Work was carried to home, to coffee tables and even sometimes into the dreams. Just could not help, but enjoyed/ing every bit of it. Every new assignment became more interesting and something was always there to learn from it. 


The rains have just arrived. But Mumbai is again not prepared to face it. Slow trains, traffic issues, ever under construction sites throughout, signs malaria & flu thanks to city administrators sincere efforts. But Mumbai never sleeps, never stops, actually it can't. We tend to forget everything and start enjoying these negative aspects. I just wonder how the young ones carry such heavy denims fully drenched and are least bothered about it while roaming in full fledged rain.

Always hated rain. For me, it's good to watch raining sitting at home without any possibility of going outside. But have been in the other side for last 6 years and acceptance has never became an issue. Honestly, Mumbai will teach & prepare you for almost everything, you can face any adversity in your life if you have stayed here. Experiencing one more monsoon, my 6th encounter at Mumbai's battleground. All wet, all prepared. 

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By the way what rain could not hide  or surpass 6 years back, were my tears coming down on 5th gear without any sign of stopping when my Dad left. Though it did, thanks to all those staring eyes in my new B-school canteen.