Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories – Part 3

7th April, 2007

Precious Simplicity…

Simple things seem so precious now… like tonight… when my roommates and I just spent the whole night chatting with each other… Not the “gossipy” chats that girls are alleged to hold when they are alone… Right from meaningful discussions about how Mansi should go about getting a student loan for going abroad for her higher studies, to serious analysis of behavioral discrepancies of some people I know, to sympathetic consolations for Muzammil’s distraught experiences as a journalist, to funny anecdotes of our school and college days, our conversation spanned just about everything…

The funny part was that, this was not the first time that we’d spent a night talking away to glory, jumping topics like crazy, even discussing nothing in particular at times! It was just that, it was the last time that I was doing this… I knew I’ll never get to do this again… we perhaps will chat at times, we’ll keep in touch and maybe even meet up occasionally – but I know that it’ll never be the same again…

As roommates, we at times just shared innocuous, unimportant, simple, everyday life details with each other… and that actually had a charm of its own! But once we do go our own separate ways, none of us would have the time to do so… and though the friendship would stay, the charm would not be the same…

I never knew a night of chatting with roommates could mean so much to me… but now I know this night’ll remain with me forever, one of those “few last memories” cherished beyond all measures… So truly is it said, one doesn’t really realize the importance of a thing, unless he/she has to abstain from it!

8th April, 2007

Packing blues…

I always have it, and this time it’s just spilt over… packing up all the stuff that I’ve acquired in five years, bang in five days – my worst nightmare come true…

Apart from that though, there is this air of finality again… I am doing this for the last time… the last journey ever, from Pune to Kolkata…

Honestly, there are too many emotions in my heart… and it gets more and more difficult by the day to put them all in words… perhaps, some things are indeed best expressed in unspoken words!

10th April, 2007

The final dates!

God’s been granting me wishes of late. He’s made me bump into very old & long lost friends, as if to tie up all loose ends before I leave the city finally… He’s let me spend time with people whom I’d have loved to get closer, as if to make up for the lost time… He’s helped me to wipe out bitter memories, and replace them all by newer, sweeter ones…

Today’s been a day of dates with such people… lunch with Abhijeet, a person with whom I got to spend much less time than what I’d have liked to, but has managed to impress me with his unparalleled sweetness in whatever little time he’s spent with me!

Coffee with Pratima, a friend who’s been in touch with me for the past year and a half solely through cell phones and the internet (bless the technologies!), despite being in the same city!

And dinner with a very dear friend, Aakaanksha, with whom I’d completely lost touch, but in whom I’d once found my twin soul! Almost three years isolated our last meeting with this one, and yet we could bare our souls to each other as if it were just yesterday!

If I were to mark out one particular day when I garnered the maximum of those “few last memories”, it’d be today, for sure…!

11th April, 2007

The Eleventh Hour…

Gati carried away all my belongings today… to be taken back to Kolkata, to my home… I am finally going home… Why then do I feel this way? Why then do I feel as if a part of my heart has been torn away? Why then do I have this excruciating pain of leaving behind all that is too precious to me?

I don’t know… All I know is that I don’t want to leave Pune… I want to stay on here, just a li’l bit longer…

12th April, 2007

Final Adieus on the Long Winding Road Back…

The last journey from Pune to Mumbai got over all too soon… The Mumbai-Pune Expressway has been a major attraction for me for long – with its endless tunnels and winding roads and hilly views… I’ve traversed this boulevard on countless occasions during the past five years – but still, today was different… today’s was the last journey…

The sensation of leaving a major chunk of my life behind heightened the most when the Innova that was to take me to the Mumbai Airport picked me up from home… I kept turning back to wave to my roommate, and to look at the roads and the places that I was leaving behind… I just couldn’t get enough… I kept looking back, until they disappeared completely from my view…

Soon enough, we hit the Expressway. I spent much of my time making a video of the Expressway – something that my co-passengers found to be pretty weird, but honestly, I couldn’t care less! Years from now, I’d love to recreate the sensation of this journey just by looking at these videos! Apart from, of course, showing it off to my friends and family there in Kolkata, the ones who haven’t had a chance to see it in person! Traveling down the Expressway is indeed quite an experience, at least to me, and I’d definitely recommend the same to all – and what better way to do it than through a live video!!

But the journey seemed shorter than ever… All too soon, I reached the airport, to be carried back to my home…

Sitting now in the Mumbai Airport, waiting for my flight and speaking to friends on phone in between jotting this piece down, that sensation of leaving everything behind has mellowed down a lot. Perhaps because this place hasn’t exactly been an inseparable part of my life during the past five years… or maybe, because this is the way of life!

Life doesn’t stop for anyone – not for the people you love the most, not for the times that you miss the most… I remember a familiar saying again: “time and tide wait for none”…!

So, now, I’m feeling different. The sensation of finally going home is sinking in… excitement about entering a new phase of life, a new way of life – the job life! I’ll be working, living a life which is very different from the one I’ve been used to… I’ll take small, uncertain steps in the beginning, but then I’ll grow confident and take surer steps towards success…

With a pang, I realize that now Pune has already become a part of my past – one that’ll always bring a smile on my lips – but all the same, a past. Maybe someday, I’ll reminisce about “those good ol’ days” to my children and grandchildren, the way our parents and grandparents do… but for now, I’m ready to leave my golden past behind, and move forward – to build for myself a new, sparkling future!!

And with that positive thought in mind, I finally board my flight back home…

Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories – Part 1
Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories – Part 2

Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 2

3rd April, 2007

Revisiting places that have had special significance during my stay here in Pune has been one of my pursuits lately, and a dinner at Bashos ranked pretty high on that list – it is a place which had been the turning point of my life in myriad ways!

Tonight, when my friends and I reached Bashos, I could feel the mist of memories clouding my eyes… especially the memory of my first visit to Bashos, which will be etched in my heart forever – for that, was the day I realized that miracles do happen in real life!

My mind raced back to my second year… circumstances had been quite cruel to me just before my birthday, and I remember praying fervently for something to happen on my special day, that would lighten up my life and give me a reason to look forward to live…

We’d been to Bashos for my birthday party, and it was there that God answered my prayers, and gave me my birthday gift – a Darling Angel, who gave me a million reasons to be happy, who never broke my trust, who was an absolute gem of a person!

God not only answered my prayers, he also granted them in a way that I’d never expected in my wildest daydreams! He made me experience the miracle of loving someone without any restraint or expectations, the miracle of being completely swept off my feet, and most importantly, the miracle of self-realization!!!

Life since then has never been the same… My Darling Angel is no more my lover, but that one-year relationship has given me more happiness and joys than the 24 summers that I’ve seen so far put together! And I did get something to cherish all my life – his unwavering friendship, love and companionship… so what if we are no longer lovers, I still love him as much as I did on that day in Bashos! Nothing’s changed, because he taught me a lot of lessons in life – and to live life without any expectations was one of them…

Bashos, like always, did make my heart ache, but the flood of his sweet memories, like always, stemmed the flow of my tears…

4th April, 2007

Kuchh baatein sirf ehsaas mein hote hain – translated, it means “some things can only be felt”…

Shopping for some necessaries was the primary aim today, but my heart was not in it… don’t know what made me do it, but I made my way towards the Sarasbaug temple midway through… and thereby added one more treasure to my collection of amazing memories… one of the “few last” ones!

Sarasbaug to my eyes seemed all decked up today, as if to wish me and bid good bye… the round red moon shimmering between the trees, the leaves swaying to a gentle breeze, the flowers in full bloom, the pond full of beautiful water lilies and lotuses looking like spots of white and pink among the green, green leaves… all the things I just love about the place… it was as if Sarasbaug was also yearning to give me one of those “few last memories” that I’d cherish forever…

The primary reason why I went alone today was because I wanted to feel the silent beauty of the place… this is the place which taught me the power of silence and how to enjoy it… the place where I rediscovered what “dignified silence” can do… as I slowly walked through each part of the park, I remembered all the times I’ve been there and spent good times… all the times when a walk through the beauty of the place had soothed my soul, and made a lot of things much easier to bear…

Sarasbaug looked as beautiful to me as on any other day… don’t know if I was imagining it, but it did feel at times that there was a melancholy tone to it today… I did try a few times to capture the beauty of the place on the lenses, but could not – and that’s when I heard someone whisper to me: “Kuchh baatein sirf ehsaas mein hote hain”… this trip no doubt is one of those!

5th April, 2007

The days of the “few last memories” are coming to an end… over the last few days, I’d been getting numerous calls, messages, mails – bidding farewell and wishing luck for the future… entreaties to keep in touch… but today, it seemed more final than ever…

When two of the people I’ve been closest to in this year left for home today in the morning, it felt sore… my heart sobbed and wept… the inevitable was come at last!

As if to seal the final proclamation of the ending, my date of departure was also settled upon today… now I know exactly how much time I have to create a few more “few last memories” and trust me, I’m trying very, very hard to utilize every moment of it…

And all the time, I still have that yearning in my heart – why couldn’t it last just a li’l bit longer…?

Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 1
Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 3

Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 1

29th March, 2007

The appointed day has come at last… five long years become history today… a history that exists only in our memories… a history that is known only to us… a history that is at once beautiful and gruesome, wonderful yet terrible, inspires love but is still hated…!

The last day of college life… the last day of exams… the whole batch seemed to have gathered in front of the college – including the people who usually scamper off to the nearest hang-out places as soon as exams end, the people who usually flee the scene before the inevitable “re-evaluating” the paper begins (this category includes yours truly! I hate it when my batchmates start discussing what the right answers are/should have been – I mean, who wants to write the entire exam all over again?!)… even the ones who usually finish their two-hour papers in an hour’s time…! Given the fact that our exams ended at 6 pm, and that most of us hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few days, courtesy the exams, that’s saying quite something! Perhaps it just showed that in spite of everything, we still cared for the small things in life!

We were moving on… on to a new phase of our career… on with life…

We were leaving a lot behind… our friends… our carefree life… our favourite hang out places…

It was truly not sinking in yet… some of us are settled in life… some aren’t… some know where they would be in the next few months… some aren’t sure about the next few days! It still felt like the ending of any other year, when the reassuring feeling of coming back for yet another year at Symbi filled our hearts, and the only promises exchanged were the ones of meeting up and keeping in touch in the holidays!

But it was different this time, and the air of finality was everywhere… our eyes were filled with anticipation of the uncertain, sadness of leaving our identities behind, anxiety of creating a new one in the big, bad world… shouldering new responsibilities, not only of charting the growth of our career paths and making our families proud, but also of living up to the name and reputation of being a “Symbi-ite”!

The heart still refused to believe that its time to bid adieu… the mind stopped the many tears from rolling down the cheeks… we promised a lot – to ourselves, to our college, to our friends… and wondered silently, which of them would life let us keep?

As of now, though, we all had our own plans made – surprisingly enough, they all sounded quite similar… Plans to enjoy the last few days in the city of Pune… to take full advantage of our carefree student-life that can never be replicated… to eat, drink and be merry… to revisit all those favourite haunts which are etched in our memories forever… to create a “few last memories” to cherish forever… to exchange the last vows of keeping in touch!

30th March, 2007

Revisiting the past days… reliving the old times spent together… creating few last memories to be cherished lifelong… catching up on whatever we’ve missed… yes, that was the plan…

Words never stopped pouring… feelings rebelled… hearts refused to stay calm… we wanted to make up for lost time… we wished the night could last forever… and yet, all good things do come to an end…

Food and drinks couldn’t befuddle us, eyelids heavy with sleep couldn’t deter us, the uncertainties of the future lying ahead couldn’t dampen us – we wanted to enjoy every minute, every second, every moment… and we did.

Some things are best left unsaid… our feelings of the night fall into that bracket!! I just wish it could last longer…

31st March, 2007

For the first time, this new realization dawned on me – leaving college does not only mean bidding farewell to friends from my batch… it also means an imminent parting with all those people who are part of my precious memories at different points of time in these five years here… juniors, friends from different streams of life, people who’ve helped me in times of need and adversity…

It is difficult to say which incident in particular triggered this feeling… perhaps it was the whole of the evening… an evening in which a few of my juniors wanted to create those “few last memories” that we all are craving for at this moment!

At ordinary times, there would’ve been nothing remarkable about the outing – a normal movie-n-dinner plan… but this was different… because my juniors’ meant this to be a personal farewell to me! Different, because all throughout, that air of finality still hung about us… every moment we enjoyed together was precious, because we knew that these were parts of the “few last memories”…

Once again, reliving the past… revisiting the old times spent together… and lastly, promises of keeping in touch…

And once again, the helpless yearning for the night to last a little longer…

1st April, 2007

Yet another addition in my collection of the “few last memories”… this time, with another set of my juniors! You could call it an outing, a picnic, a religious trip – could’ve been anything, but who knows better than I that this trek up the Parvati hill to visit the Temples there, the royal lunch at Sukanta, the whole morning in fact, was also meant to be one of those “few last memories”!

Not that it diminished the enjoyment of the trip… no, not even one bit… in fact, it perhaps enhanced the flavor more… and most importantly, it threw up some very memorable moments…

The journey, the exploration, the laughter and the companionship, the enjoyment and the merry-making… in a few days, they’ll no more be a part of my life… they’ll just become memories… such a sore realization!

When the sumptuous lunch at Sukanta got over, I had the same pit-feeling in my stomach – couldn’t it last a bit longer…?

Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 2
Fleeting Glimpses of the Few Last Memories - Part 3

Just One Last Memory…

25th March, 2007

The last few days… studies taking so much of the time… precious little time to do anything else at all… the urge to do so many things… so little time to do all that… got two weeks… plans worth two years… the excruciating realization of having to leave a piece of yourself behind…

Some things just happen in life… some memories just stay forever… some hours of togetherness can make up for lost time of years… some experiences relive the magic of yesterday… some just make you look forward to tomorrow…

A few wonderful hours of one night spent together… unplanned, unexpected… a night of revisiting favorite haunts… of discussions of future… of coming to terms with reality… much against the wishes, time flies… words pour from the heart… but a pregnant silence follows, poignant with unspoken words… so full of verve… yet tinged with the imminent parting… some feelings creep into the core of the heart… pure, innocent, true… far from the maddening crowd… untouched by the crazy practicalities of life… so removed from the world…

Something is in the thoughts… the mind says something else… disbelief writ large on the face… yet the heart says it’s true… why does it happen? No one knows…

A night of remembrances… perhaps the last ever… three golden hours stolen from among the various harsh practicalities of life called ‘work’, ‘studies’, ‘packing’, ‘sleeping’… precious few moments snatched out of busy schedules and an unapproving society… when the bonding of two hearts was witnessed only by the cold hands that warmed each other… when the gorgeous eyes of one searched the pretty eyes of the other for something called ‘hope’…

An unsaid, heartrending plea not to be forgotten… a silent promise to reminisce… beautiful moments that cannot be not-thought-of… things change with time… life moves on… but some things that “just happened” at one point of time still occupy the heart… the memory stays forever… the taste lingers on…

A beautiful night of togetherness… of remembrances… of fond memories… and of unexpressed feelings… that is what is called life!

One More Bitter-Sweet Experience!

20th March, 2007

When I came to Pune five years back, quite a few things surprised me, and one of them was the near-total absence of crime in the city. Anyone who’s stayed in this city for even a month would’ve noticed this. Pune was considered to be one of the safest places for women, and this trait of the city was lauded by all and sundry! I too have fond remembrances of hanging out till late, late nights with my friends… there have been times when I’ve been out till midnight and more all by myself, without facing a single instance of teasing, molestation or any sort of undesirable advances at all.

Slowly, though, the heavenly ambiance in the city started to deteriorate. The first shock came to me two years back, on 1st January 2005, when a hoodlum snatched a cell-phone of a young girl on the road, right in front of my eyes. A friend and I gave chase with the girl, and in a last effort to save himself, the hoodlum tried to cross a very busy road – he was hit by a truck. It was a shocking incident, but I thought it to be a one-off thing.

The next menacing incident happened a few months after the abovementioned episode, when I saw two young and very frightened females (they were juniors of mine from college) being followed by a drunk man on a bike, offering them to spend the night with him. I was outraged and once again stood up on behalf of the two girls. Being a tad older to them, I fortunately was able to keep my head, and did the most sensible thing that I could at that time – I threatened him that I’d call the Police if he didn’t clear off right at that moment. By God’s grace, it worked.

After that, I noticed an alarming rise in the occurrence of such things. I realized that it was not only me, but many others like me who were getting into pretty sticky situations like this. Still, I kept telling myself, Pune’s a much safer than many of the other places in the country. But a chain of events in the recent past, some related to me and some to other guys and girls I know here, have planted serious doubts in my mind about the safety situation in the city – and that doubt was transformed into belief by a very unpleasant event that I was subjected to in the early hours of 16th March, 2007.

A friend of mine, Prateek, and I usually go out for post-dinner walks whenever he’s in town. On 15th night too, we went out for a walk. We were a bit late, but we thought “what the heck, 11:30 pm in Pune is evening!” Never, in our wildest dreams, did we expect what was to come our way…

At around 12:30 am, we returned home. Just as we reached the parking lot, Prateek realized that there were two guys following us. Before he could tell me anything, or gather his wits together, the guys had caught up with us… one was carrying a huge but blunt iron sword, and the other promptly sprinkled red chilli powder in our eyes. They then demanded that without raising an alarm, we hand over our cell phones and valuables to them. I gave my cell-phone, and Prateek also surrendered his cell phone and wallet. Then, pretty coolly, Prateek asked for his sim card, and I too seconded his request. To my utter surprise, they actually gave Prateek his cell phone back to take his sim card out.

However, while he was trying to take the sim cards out for both of us, the first guy, who was carrying the sword, turned his attention towards me and started misbehaving with me. I kept shut for a while, scared that if I raise an alarm they might harm Prateek. But the guy went further and further – he nearly tore my t-shirt off, and demanded that I take my jeans off. Well, perhaps the only thing that a woman would prize above even her life is her modesty/chastity – and that is exactly what prompted me to resist the hoodlums at this stage. I spoke up, and refused to comply with his demand, come what may… although I was scared about Prateek, I realized that the guy who was holding him back was actually not a very potential threat. It was the guy who was misbehaving with me who was more menacing.

My belief was confirmed when at this point, Prateek managed to throw the other guy off himself, and came to try and protect me. The first guy caught him by the collar, and saw the gold chain that Prateek was wearing. He immediately demanded that he take it off, but by that time both of us had recovered somewhat from the shock, and perhaps emboldened by the fact that we were now right in front of the staircase leading to my flat – so Prateek refused, and dared the guys to come any further…

At this stage perhaps even the hoodlums realized that they were now treading in dangerous waters, so they just went away, and we came back to our respective flats. After giving each other a bit of time to recover, we met up to decide the further course of action. An FIR seemed the most sensible thing to do, but right at that time, we were not sure if even the police would take any action, so we decided to postpone it till the morning…

In the morning, we went to the nearest Police Station, and lodged a complaint with all the details. Although we were quite skeptical about recovering any of the stolen items, but we thought it best to let the records stay.

Much to our surprise, however, the very next day the Police called us up to inform us that they’d caught a miscreant, and perhaps we should come down to identify him. We did, and realized that he was indeed the one carrying the sword! We lost no time in informing the Police about our unswerving identification, and the Police reassured us that we’d get our stuff back in some time. We were still skeptical, but humored the Police staff, and came back home. Inwardly, though, we did marvel at the fact that it’d taken them just a day to catch up with the hoodlum!

On the 18th, the Police called us again, asking us to come down to take a look at the recovered items, and whether our things were among them. Unfortunately, we both could not make it that day. But yesterday, on 19th March, Prateek and I went to the Police Station, and sure enough, there were our cell phones, Prateek’s wallet, his Debit Card, Driving Licence, and most other documents! Not all the things were recovered, but that just makes up 10% of our lost items, and we are not complaining at all!

Almost every one knows the lousy reputation that the Indian Police System has. I myself, being a law student, have a pretty good idea about how the system works, and I can’t deny that both Prateek and I constituted that category of people who have no trust whatsoever in the Policing of our country. When we’d registered the complaint, we’d no expectations whatsoever of the miscreants getting caught, our stuff getting recovered, and all our work getting done without having to pay a single penny as bribe to the concerned officials! Kudos to the Maharashtra Police officials!!!

Today, I take this opportunity to tell all you people that perhaps, after all, we are a teeny bit biased! There still are some people in the system who work, who are honest and who try their best to uphold the dignity of their uniform! I take this opportunity to thank all the concerned Police officials, who did their duty so efficiently, and in return, today, I make a promise to myself and to the Police System – that from now on, I will never, ever, begrudge the Police System, and I’ll give them all possible help whenever they require it, whether in this case, or in any other case! Not so surprisingly, even Prateek echoes my sentiments, and has vowed to do any work for the Police that they may require of him!!! Once again, a big, big Thank You to the Maharashtra Police on behalf of both of us!

The incident has scarred us, and has left a bitter taste in our mouths. Prateek and I both do wonder at times, what we did to deserve this, where did we go wrong… Pune being such a safe city and being known for its night life, it is actually no big deal to be wandering outside our homes at midnight, and we’ve been used to this lifestyle for the past couple of years. The law and order situation has, evidently, deteriorated. But as long as such Police Officers are still in the system, we can perhaps still breathe a sigh of relief.

Reminds me of a popular saying… “All’s well that ends well”!!

Leaving One Home for Another…

16th March, 2007

Five years… When you idly think about it, it seems to be quite a long time; but when you actively live it, it is actually very, very short… Thus says my personal experience…

Nearly five years ago, when I was a young and vulnerable girl of 18, I’d stepped into this strange, unknown city of Pune for the first time. I didn’t know anyone here, neither did I know anything about the city, or about how I was going to spend the next five years here – utterly alone, defenseless… It was a scary feeling, because I’d always been in a protected environment before this. Of course, I was always independent and self-sufficient. I was always encouraged to live my own life and solve my own problems – but this was different. Here, I would not even have my parents by my side if I needed them…

However, it was my own decision to come here, so I put up a brave front – and decided not to regret my actions! The one thing that kept me going in those days was the fact that I’d at least proved myself to my family, by getting into this prestigious institution all by myself… I’d earned their respect, and I did not want to lose it. So, when my parents finally bade me goodbye and left for home, leaving me all alone here, I did not cry, I did not allow myself to lose heart… I told myself, “it’s only a matter of a few months, and then I’ll be able to go home again, in the holidays!”

I need not have worried, though… the beauty of the city captured me the very first day, with all its hills and greenery and natural assets, and slowly but surely, Pune started becoming my second home… I made new friends – some good ones, some not so good ones – but they were enough to keep me going. In fact, for the first time in my life I learnt to appreciate solitude, and the joys of being in my own company!

Slowly, time brought me closer to the city… I loved its natural beauty, I loved its environment, and I loved my newfound maturity…

Not all my experiences here were good though… I, for example, seemed to have a weird knack of attracting the strangest and most irksome lot of people, both as roommates and as acquaintances! But I managed to pull through… through those bitter-sweet encounters, I learnt a lot, and at the same time got to figure out the realities of life!

Not that I did not make any good friends… I did, but they are handful in number. Because life here in Pune has made me realize that “friendship” is a rare thing to happen! Life here in Pune has made me appreciate the only true friends I have – Moumita, Ranjinee, Parama, Shiropa, Saurya… And thanks to the tough life I led here in Pune, today I know that no matter what, only those friendships survive the test of life whose foundation lies in unconditional love and trust…

Pune has taught me to fight for my own space… to be strong mentally, physically and emotionally… to expect nothing from the world… to suspect an ulterior motive behind every friendly gesture…! You might think I’m being too negative, but it’s not so! Had I not come to this city, and had I not stayed here in the midst of all these odds, I would actually have never learnt these very important lessons of life. I take all of it in a positive light – life in Pune has made me worldly wise. Today, the mature head that rests on my firm shoulders is a result of this very journey, which lasted five years and was so full of hardships!

And yet, in spite of all these hardships, it still aches to leave the city. Standing at the fag end of my student-life in this ever-young city, I find myself yearning to stay on for a few more days… I find myself longing to relive the experiences of these five years just one more time… Perhaps to rectify certain mistakes of mine in some situations, perhaps to savor certain times and incidents all over, perhaps to be a kid once again…

You might again be wondering, “If she has such bitter experiences, then what on earth wants to make her stay on?” The answer is, no, I’ve not only had bitter experiences here… in fact, certain sweet memories are hidden even in the apparently bitter ones! It is here that I’ve come across people I’d never want to forget, and it is here that I’ve spent times that I’d never be able to replicate!

It is difficult for me to express what exactly I feel for this place… For five years now, this city has been my existence. It has been a second home to me. It gives me such immense joy just to be in the city… It has given me so much wisdom, love, courage and strength that now I’m prepared to face life like never before. It means so much to me…

Now that the time to leave Pune is steadily drawing near, mixed emotions overcome me… Some moments make me feel helpless, some make me sad, yet others make me expectant – until I slowly lose myself in the entire gamut of emotions…

Leaving Pune makes me feel as if I’ve shredded out a piece of my heart… a tiny little piece of my heart, that will always stay here – in this beautiful, bitter-sweet city of Pune!