On my way to Pune

Day -1:

Yeah, I am starting from the days I had not yet reached Pune. A day before I departed from Bangalore my house was in a huge mess. Sweets, clothes, bags, tissue papers and people were at every corner of my house. People came to visit me like I am going for a 40 day battle. I was imagining my Pune days to be a battle too. This was the first time I would be away from home for that long. I was excited, and that was vividly seen in my behavior. What was not evident to other people was the worry and panic in me. A new place, new environment, new people, new kind of food and a new life, these were tensing me up. I knew I had to face this someday and after college, such situations would be a common phenomenon. Adaptation was the new rule that had to be followed, but would I be good at it?

Day 0:

It’s important to talk about this day because it will give a comparison of how I was when I left for Pune and how I was when I left Pune. My train was at 8pm and I reached there with 3 huge bags of luggage about half an hour before the departure. My dad was coming to Pune with me. It was my mother’s strict orders for my dad to make sure I am staying in a safe area and I have everything that I needed for 40 days. Dad was confident that I will do just fine, but my Mom, like all the Moms in the world, was worried. I reached the platform to find my friends already there waiting for me. My friends Kitty, Lampi and Desai made fun of me because I was looking happy leaving home. My mom joined them too and soon my sister and Dad. My cousin came running to the station about 5 mins before the train left. Geetha gave me chocolates for the journey and all in all I had about 2 kgs of eatables, 2 books, 3 cassettes and a walkman for my 20 hour train journey.

I started the journey chatting with my dad about my two new friends who would stay with me in the hostel. Poornima and Shoba had reached there before me and I was happy that there were at least two people I know who I can spent time with. Poornima and Shoba were from my college but I did not know both of them. It was when both of them called me up about 10 days before I left and told me about the hostel and food, that I got to know them. I had met them just once before I saw them in Pune.

Appa and I had an awful tasting train dinner and I went to the uppermost berth to sleep. That’s when I started to think about how much I am going to miss home, miss my Mom, miss fighting with my sister, miss home food, miss all the pampering, miss my friends , miss my cousins, miss my dog and miss my Scooty ( without which I would almost be crippled). The only thing I was happy about was that I was leaving Bangalore. I have stayed in Bangalore ever since I was born and 23 years in the same place will get anybody bored. So, I wept and I cried and I sneezed and I wiped my tears and then I cried again. This went on all night. I spoke to my mother about 10 times that night. She cried too. So, most of the journey was spent crying. Dad did not know how to react!

That wasn’t it; the journey was a hilarious one, though not at that point of time. The train stoped in Pune for about half hour and moved ahead towards Mumbai. Yes, u r thinking right! We did not get down at Pune. Both Dad and me were fast asleep (I had cried all night and I needed some sleep). Thank god we woke up before the train reached Lonavala, else we would have gone to Mumbai. People all around us were laughing, while Dad and I dint know what to do. Then we got down at Lonavala station, caught the local train to Pune with the help of some of our train friends and reached Pune 4 hours late. Poornima, Shoba and Shoba’s Dad were very worried. When we reached the hostel and narrated the story, they all had a good laugh and so did Dad and me.