A home away from home- The Happy Blog

A home away from home,

A life very new from the one I lived

Friends so different from the once I loved

Discovering new people, new roles and strengths,

I am glad I came this far from my mother land.

I never gave a serious thought to living away from home. I never really imagined that that will ever be needed. I am a girl who always prioritized family over friends, and so never really knew how it would be to live so far away from one.

I am writing today not because the life with parents is easy, there were always other things to worry about then. But writing today because living away from home has been a different (and till now cherished) experience altogether.

A bucket of regrets from the past

A string of memories of the bygones

Whole lot of loves that never materialized

Keeping myself strong in those soul crushing nights

All left behind, I am glad I came this far from my beloved land

The city that I am living in is pretty awesome in a lot of senses. Totally scary autowallas, traffic jam packed roads (awfully polluted ones at that). But “Mah LYf MaH RuLezZ” truly makes sense here. People are less judgmental, they are freer, they are “work hard and party harder” kind of people.  Or the fact is that there are just more people of my age category.

Probably it is all of this, or it is that I just became a free bird, with no restriction of timelines whatsoever, because hey “I just discovered the Ola Cab App”. That, and the fact that all the places from the troublesome, full of not so wonderful memories, distracting past are far away. And all the complex equations just dissolved due to the distance. All the “log kya sochenge” after a failed effort, though still are there, are very far away now.

Those strangely comforting words from a loving Dad

Those "I'll slap you if you'll cry again" handholds from a strong mother

Those surprise chocolates from a very thoughtful brother

Those mature lectures from a younger sister (Is she smart or is she smart!)

All of it cherished, I am glad I have them in this faraway land

I am happy, parents are happier that I am getting to work hard. I had counted on few people to be family in a sans family city, but I found the emotional independence before I even got there(I am discovering more of it). I realized a lot of other great strengths

  1. I can shop for Groceries, as perfectly as my parents did.

 2. I can keep a neat home, as meticulously neat as unknown gnomes kept  my          previous one

 3. I can negotiate with maids, and electricians and plumbers and ...

 4. I clean my own laundry, and then iron it.

 5. I can manage mornings without Mom having to bark out my name

 6. I can manage to fall ill without cribbing about it to parents.

 7. I can love my siblings better than when I was with them

 8. I can survive without Maggi and Ma.

 9. I can.

I am sure everybody else can do it too and not feel the need to write about it or feel extremely happy about it. Maybe because either they can’t write, or they don’t feel happy about it, or both (get the pun? No, ok!)

But yay I am happy, and yay that I am writing a happy blog after so long. And yay I have finally learnt to gather good people around me. And yay I have overcome the rotten past. And yay to awesome room-mates (You two make the dinner time a look forward to event) and yay to awesome team-mates (only few of them). Yay to Ola cabs (I wasn’t paid to advertise), and yay to my new company (It feels awesome to work for you AND crib about it to parents) and yay to an extreme satisfaction of finding a home away from home.

When all things dear in the world were lost

There was a world where tying rakhies to guys not our brothers was easy.
There was a time when friendship happened with just a shake of hands.
There were days when crying for the one you love was not a shame.
There were days when asking for help was done without much fretting over.

Calling friends, going to their place, dancing, eating chocolates, everything was just so much easier to do. There were no second thoughts about one’s intention, no doubts about anyone’s willingness to help. Hesitancies had no place in friendships. They were the best in the world, hell they were the world. 

I remember playing pakdam pakdai with them, the game of posham pa and hide and seek. The playgrounds were the world we would conquer, the collected chocolates would be the prize money. Doing each other’s home work, sharing the ghost stories, watching alladin and ginnie cartoon series together in the evening. All was done along with friends, in their company.

These are the days I remember today, when I have grown tired of losing friends. Today, when trust comes after a lot of effort, and where intentions have to be cleared at every point.

I say that the sense of sensibility that we grown ups have is very sad. A help given, which was not asked for is doubted while advice is paid for. Talking to shrinks is far easier than calling someone close by and sharing with him. Paying to talk to someone seems like just the thing we needed in life.  Saying sorry is so much more difficult than texting it/ mailing it. Neighbors are the first strangers we know. Smiley’s are the most free form of expression today. I so hate this world of grown ups.

At this point of time in night, I can count atleast 20 people I would like to call right away and talk my heart out with them, but I am not supposed to do that because I am supposed to behave like grownups.Trust me I could give away so much just to meet the people I am missing right now, clear out all the air, and gossip with them for hours, the way I remember I use to do with them.

But I guess this is why derp once told a kid not to grow up, said it’s a trap. Growing up is a trap where office is filled with politics rather than with friends, love has become synonymous to sex rather than the surprise gifts, coffee shops and evening walks. Going to nani’s is not a fav holiday destination anymore.

I so wish I could bring that world of ease and peace back. Go there, take along a few souls from this world, mend relations with them, make a healthy and happy conversations without the if’s and but’s. Let them know that I would always be there for them, without clinging to them when they would want their space. And so like hell demand the same out of them.

Maybe this post has been created out of emotional outburst, but I think its more of something that I have been wanting since last 3-4 years.