Strange to be back in the south after quite a long gap.My friend asks me ,'are you back from Dehradun?'We were together in Tamil Nadu more than a decade ago.Slightly confused I say ,'back to where?'
I was born in Mangan,educated in Gangtok,graduated in Bengal,post-graduated in Tamil Nadu,worked in Satbarwa,Herbertpur,England,Herbertpur and now am ready for the next bout of adventure .
Even as I reach Chennai I meet Sheba after a little over a year,her parents after a decade.Uncle says I have grown fatter.
I hear Dr Manoj's familiar voice over the phone.....into CMC there is Dolly,Deepak,Beulah ,Alex,Emmanuel,Jayanti,Susheel,Shalom,Ashita,Deepak,Dr Hansdak,Judy,..then there are the Satbarwa folks...Sishir,Suman....and then more Oddanchattram...Abraham.,Meghala....and then even as Abraham dials the phone and hands the set to me I am greeted by intermittant stunned silence and giggle on the other side of the phone....seriously I,think Anand has forgotten who I am.Anand used to be a dentist in Oddanchattram when I was doing my post-graduation and was the kindest tamil teacher I had.The first few months of my post-graduate year,Dr KV was keen that someone teach me Tamil and he had volunteered.He was a wonderful teacher and I was an exceptionally indisciplined learner.
I try to schedule a meet with Upasana ,one of the staff kids from Satbarwa and I desperately fail.I have a day in hand so I decide I want to make a quick trip to Pondicherry.Even as I am in a reverie on the roads ,I wonder where all my other good friends have dissappeared to.I would have liked to meet Nithila,Malini,Bala,Zhimi,Ally...and ofcourse ,Dr KV.
This is the best part about moving around .I realise I have become so much richer by just having them in my life.
Even as I look to moving to a new place I also look forward to sharing my life with a lot more people,little treasures in my little life giving it a lot of substance and memories.
Now why did I come to Pondicherry?
Apart from the fact that It was a last minute plan since my onward journey was from Vellore and an enthusiatic well-wisher whispered ,'go to Pondicherry',I actually came to see the crystal ball once a friend of mine likened me to.....hoping I will be able to capture back a fraction of that quality , whatever that meant..... that I will be able to do some reading ,praying and thinking.... before I catch the next train to Bilaspur.....
I was born in Mangan,educated in Gangtok,graduated in Bengal,post-graduated in Tamil Nadu,worked in Satbarwa,Herbertpur,England,Herbertpur and now am ready for the next bout of adventure .
Even as I reach Chennai I meet Sheba after a little over a year,her parents after a decade.Uncle says I have grown fatter.
I hear Dr Manoj's familiar voice over the phone.....into CMC there is Dolly,Deepak,Beulah ,Alex,Emmanuel,Jayanti,Susheel,Shalom,Ashita,Deepak,Dr Hansdak,Judy,..then there are the Satbarwa folks...Sishir,Suman....and then more Oddanchattram...Abraham.,Meghala....and then even as Abraham dials the phone and hands the set to me I am greeted by intermittant stunned silence and giggle on the other side of the phone....seriously I,think Anand has forgotten who I am.Anand used to be a dentist in Oddanchattram when I was doing my post-graduation and was the kindest tamil teacher I had.The first few months of my post-graduate year,Dr KV was keen that someone teach me Tamil and he had volunteered.He was a wonderful teacher and I was an exceptionally indisciplined learner.
I try to schedule a meet with Upasana ,one of the staff kids from Satbarwa and I desperately fail.I have a day in hand so I decide I want to make a quick trip to Pondicherry.Even as I am in a reverie on the roads ,I wonder where all my other good friends have dissappeared to.I would have liked to meet Nithila,Malini,Bala,Zhimi,Ally...and ofcourse ,Dr KV.
This is the best part about moving around .I realise I have become so much richer by just having them in my life.
Even as I look to moving to a new place I also look forward to sharing my life with a lot more people,little treasures in my little life giving it a lot of substance and memories.
Now why did I come to Pondicherry?
Apart from the fact that It was a last minute plan since my onward journey was from Vellore and an enthusiatic well-wisher whispered ,'go to Pondicherry',I actually came to see the crystal ball once a friend of mine likened me to.....hoping I will be able to capture back a fraction of that quality , whatever that meant..... that I will be able to do some reading ,praying and thinking.... before I catch the next train to Bilaspur.....
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