Since I was six years
old I wanted to travel the world. I loved living a nomadic kind of life; I knew
then that I can’t spend my whole life in one place. I can’t live a life what
people call a stable life because I don’t want to settle down at one place. And
so even my fate has helped me to travel across the country and explore
different places, helped me meeting different set of people, which gave me a
whole new perspective to look at life, learned about different cultures and
traditions. I was born in Bangalore – the only person in my family who was born
outside Bihar. It has been a spectacular journey so far. After spending fifteen
years of my life in my hometown Patna, as soon as I finished my 10th
grade I got my first chance to go out alone and wander like a nomad. For
another two years that I ended up spending in Hyderabad – a beautiful city
indeed, I had explored many places in Andhra Pradesh. Places like Vizag,
Srisailam, etc. and then I went to Chennai.
Four years of my life
that I spent in Chennai were just awesome, even though what all troubles I had
in those years has in a way helped me to grow as a person. Every year people
make many promises on New Year, they will quit smoking, they will start
dieting, they will propose the girl with whom they have been in love with, and
they will start working out and stuffs like that. Every year I make just one
promise to myself – that I will try to become a better human being. And now
after completing my graduation, my fate has brought me to the capital city of
India, the city of extremes – Delhi.
The first impression of
Delhi is always great. Whoever comes here the very first time they fall in love
with the city. It is a kind of place where you can live, doesn’t matter whether
you belong from middle class or higher class family. Unlike Mumbai – which is
also a great city of India, it becomes quite tough to survive if you don’t earn
much. It is true that the crime rates have increased by leaps and bounds in
Delhi, still a good place to live in. And especially if you are going to start
your career as a journalist – a place with high crime rates is always good to
start with.
But if we keep crime
rates apart for a while, this place has got a great history. So many times it
has been rebuilt, so many monuments exists here which has got some great story
behind it, so many places are there to explore, so many restaurants are here to
taste and so many trolls are here to find. These days Delhi trolls have become
viral and I really want to meet those people who think Holland would have won
if there was a match between Netherlands and Holland; that India is in FIFA
world cup 2014, that our president is still Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kampala, and so
many other trolls which have come into the picture lately. Although I don’t
want to offend people sentiments, trolls are just for fun, to entertain the
public and keep the sense of humor alive in media.
And this year has been
a fortunate one for me as wherever I am going I am always welcomed by rain and
awesome climate. My friends say, that I bring monsoon with me wherever I visit.
And it is true to a certain extent. Like I went to Mumbai it started raining, I
was in Kolkata for two hours (I had a train to change) it rained, I reached my
hometown after two years and it rained the first four days and last three days
of my stay and the evening I left Patna for Delhi, the moment my train started
from Patna station it had already started raining in Delhi too. Maybe it is
just a coincidence which I prefer calling the result of good timing or maybe I
bring monsoon with me wherever I goJ.
With this rain, a new
chapter has begun in my life; I can’t tell you the feeling when you actually
start living your dream. Something which you always wanted to do but it wasn’t
happening in your life and at one point you almost gave up the hope of living
your dream, like many others you had to think about Plan B and Plan C, then
suddenly lightning strucked, sun smiled and the dark clouds which were hovering
around your head for a long time lightened your mood by showering its blessings
upon you and you finally landed exactly where you always wanted to start your
life. I cannot express my feelings now when I know that it is no more a dream
and it has turned into reality. All I have to do is put my leg on the pedal,
move ahead and make history.
One of my friend Indrajit always motivated me whenever I
received a rejection during my placements, “that
you actually know what you want from your life – it is a start. Many people
don’t even know what they want from their life. So you are always one step
further doesn’t matter you didn’t get through some stupid company doesn’t make
you a loser. And for those people who think like that is actually one loser in
their life. I know you will become a great personality in future and this is
the test you have to pass. It is the way of God to check how much you are
passionate about your dreams and how far would you go to achieve them.”
Thanks a lot buddy, for
you have not been there to motivate me I would have gave up my hope and I would
have joined some IT company. It took few months to convince my family that I don’t want to work as an IT professional, instead I want to pursue journalism (they were scared about job security
and how much will I earn after becoming a media person), an entrance test and an interview with the Senior Editor of The Times Of India, Chennai to reach where I am right now. To be a
part of Times School of Journalism
and to be among those 35 students who have been selected from all over India.
It is indeed a great feeling, there are so many things to do now and I feel
this one year is very less.
This whole episode in
my life did really turn my world upside down for a while. It was very tough to
face the storm and stand still, it was very tough to bear the pain of
disappointments throughout, and I am glad that in those tough times I stood
still, learnt to get up after falling every now and then. And it made me believe one thing about life, whatever happens it happens for a reason,
even a small thing which happens in our life has some big contribution in
changing our lives.
From
engineering to journalism is a big jump and a big risk is involved. But if you
want to achieve something you got to take risks, without taking risks in life
we can never do something out of the box.
There are so many
things to say, so many people to thank who kept on motivating me and
appreciated that among so many people I think differently, that I was different
from the crowd. Especially my mom and dad who had the nerve to let me do what I
always wanted to do. My brother – who is always my pillar of strength, who
always save my ass from getting busted and who has a great contribution in
helping me to take the baby steps towards my dream. My friends who always appreciated
my blog (even though very few actually read my blog and my articles), to that
girl who claimed to be my fan, whom I met in a bus in Chennai and then never
saw her again, who asked for my autograph as if I was a big celebrity, it did
fill a sense of responsibility in me to write for those people who loves to
read what I write.
A writer is always
incomplete without their readers. Readers are someone who keep the writer
alive, who keep them on their toes, who always motivate them to think differently,
who help them to bring a new wave in the society. So a big thanks to all my
readers across the globe for keeping my dream alive when I had no hopes that I
can pursue my career in this field and it is not just a time pass hobby to
write but my passion to learn and grow as a writer.
Keep reading as the new
chapter in my life has just begun and there is a long way to go…
Hasta la vista…
