I can not step out from my home. I could not do so a couple of days ago. And I wish I am not able to do so for some days more. Its just the reasons that vary.

When I stepped in my hometown, all I had was scorching heat to welcome me with a bright smile. I had never seen Muzaffarpur experience such a bad weather, ever. There is no doubt I hardly go anywhere when I am home, and the sun made it sure that I didn’t even step in the verandah! I still remember the water logged roads and the people wading through them last time I was here, the same time. But alas! All I see is dirt.

The time has changed. Its time to go. I prayed all time for the rain God to show His might. And he made the old saying true once again, “ bhagwaan ke ghar mein der hai, andher nahi”, and its raining now, not to forget, after bearing all the heat all these days. The flowers have started blooming, the drains full, and the people…they have started wading again. I do want to stay at home, but the rain has made it a point that I do not even step in the verandah! What an irony! It’s just the reasons that vary!
In the first place it was the sun, now, the rain!

A mesmerising spell

Once in a lifetime experience! That’s all I can say about it. I got up at about 6 am, the sky was just as it should be post dawn. It was a bit cloudy, but I could see the sun in the horizon. I was waiting eagerly for the moon to show up and cover the sun. It did. I could see the crescent shape of the moon crawling over the sun. I was wearing shades, but still had a fear, whether it will suffice or not, but surprisingly it did. It was just a matter of a few minutes. The moon started covering the sun , and I swear what a beauty it was. Slowly, the moon covered the full face of the sun, and I could see the corona. And just after a few seconds, the diamond ring. The same as I had read, and seen in pics. It was right in front of my eyes. The whole sky had become dark. And then there was a second dawn. The moon started shifting its position and the sky got its color back. I put off the shades, and was lost in the mesmerizing beauty of it.

BOL BUM

It was really difficult for me to drive through the one-way with the kanwarias trotting around the other half of the road. But somehow I managed to reach the pandaal where I had been invited to serve the kanwarias. The music was so loud and shrill, that I had to find a place away from the sound box. The first job which was assigned to me was to sit on a chair in the middle of the road with a long bamboo in my hand and divert the traffic to one side of the road, leaving the other empty for the kanwarias, the people who carry the holy “ganga jal” from pehleja ghat and are on their way to baba garibnath shrine in muzaffarpur. Being Monday tomorrow, the followers run all the way barefoot, from pehleja to muzffarpur, carrying the water on the kanwars which rests on their shoulders, hence the name – “kaanwarias”. After sometime, I was providing water to the people, tired, exhausted people, but still shouting the name of their beloved God. Bol Bum!! There was another person standing next to me with a hose in his hand spraying luke warm water on their feet and the road. Their feet were swollen to unimaginable sizes, but they were walking, with the unbearable pain. Some slowed down to have a sip of water, others for aspirin. One of them, I guess, atleast an octogenarian, was bleeding, but smiling. Someone ran to him, cleaned the wounds on his sole and provided a new bandage. The man carried on shouting “bol bum”! I was speechless. Not only him, there were children, half my age, ladies, double my age, and men of course, all dressed in variants of saffron, red and yellow. For sometime I was really lost in a different world of dedication which I could see. Be it dedication towards the Almighty, or towards your work, one thing I learned today, that if you are determined towards any damn thing, you show your dedication , and you will surely get through.

"OM"

I could hear the toll of the temple bells long way before I could see the temple itself. As I was nearing the temple I could feel that I can save the energy required to walk by just standing midway in the road, and within minutes I would have been inside the temple premises! Initially I tried my best to dodge all the puddles of rain as well as drain water with flowers, leaves and mud, but then this sound completely attracted me towards itself. As I took a couple of steps ahead, I could hear hundreds of voices, and their echoes, singing the bhajans in the praise of Lord Shiva, together, forming an ineluctable draw towards the temple. I never knew when, I started enjoying the puddles. I don’t remember after how many years I was using a well to draw water from. Wherever my eyes could wander, I could only find people, spellbound with the vibe that surrounded the holy place. The smell of the incense sticks, mixed with sweat formed a completely distinct smell that can never be created artificially. I brushed along with people, people of all caste and creed, cultures, following different traditions, rich people, who came to a temple wearing a fragrance, poor people having one of their own. But then, in front of Him all are equal. I really can’t explain the way I reached the Shivling, but I managed to do so. I poured the water and milk over Him, and in turn found some people, who couldn’t manage to reach near him, pouring the same blindly over me! The echoes of the bhajans were still ringing in my ears; it was just that the people had changed. I couldn’t understand it so well that I could sing with them, but I found my lips moving. The bhajans changed, the people changed, their voices changed too, but all I could find in common was “OM” which never changed. Walking back home, however the actual sound faded as I walked away, but the echo was still ringing in my ears, my mind and my soul. “OM- Truly, a hymn of the universe.”

ADIEU SSIT

Finally the time has come when the prefix “ex” has come between me and SSIT. At times, I used to wonder, how happy I would be when I leave this college. No doubt, I am. But then even though if you spend 4 years in a dungeon, you start liking it, or rather get used to the pungent spell! And as soon as you get the fresh breeze, the sunburst, you do welcome them with open arms, but you will surely miss the chill you got accustomed to.
Here I am, facing the gates to the bad bad world, with unbearable coerce behind me. The dilemma continues. Was college life better? Or do I need to break the mould and get going towards greater realms of life? Only time can testify.
Suddenly I have started feeling something heavy on my shoulders. Responsibilities?? Oh God..!! But they were always there.
Right now, I don’t have a roof over my head, the hunger within surges at the usual mess time, however hard I may try to subside it. Moreover I have a couple of critical decisions to make, decision so vital, that a mistake can change the entire course of my life.
But then getting back to what I started with, I will really miss the blotted, yet beautiful, a bit dull, yet adventurous, a lonesome, yet occupied time spent in SSIT. At this juncture, the dialogues by Amir Khan in Rang de Basanti flash my mind when Su asks him why he doesn’t want to leave this place, and he says something like- “ people know me here ..and everything looks so homely….” Sometimes I really feel the same. Where will I get such friends with whom I can hang out with? With whom I can gel really well. I won’t boast of making many friends, but then I will really miss some of the special people who came in my life while my stay in Tumkur.
Those drives to dhaba, DD hills, CCD, those hang outs at unknown yet significant places for us. Raju ka lime, main bakery ki chai, vipin ka egg roll aur kiran bhaiya ki coffee …..Will really miss them all.
But then life has to move on. So am I. trying to make a fresh beginning, with the sweet memories of the past lingering my mind……