“Memories”, you are simply amazing

Raghav, the protagonist from the other blog post “She Moved In, But I had moved Out” is now working at a Multi-National Firm somewhere in the foreign land and is quite comfortable with his new relocation. Most of his time gets totally consumed with the office work, as he barely finds some personal time to take off from the hectic & dynamic schedule.

Some turbulent days did pass by him and some gentle ones too, which was well taken care off by him, as he was matured enough to believe the truth that no single day is the same and no single situation is gone stay the same. 

And it was one such gentle day at the office when suddenly a long lost memory of his flashed right in front of his eyes, barely lasting a second or two, just like how a lighting would hit the earth and vanish off swiftly. 

An unsettled confusion turned up within him instantly. How can a long lost event suddenly flash up before him was his question to himself when he had not thought of it anytime now? Thinking of what caused the sudden trigger of the memory flash, Raghav found out that it was from the Radio that was playing out of his mobile phone.

He had this habit of listening to songs while working, as it helped him stay focused, be always connected with Chennai and refine the unnecessary noise surrounding him. And it was this time that over the radio the Radio Jockey had mentioned the name of a small town, which ignited the memory out of his brain.

It was just a town located twenty three kilometres east of Erode, a city in Tamil Nadu, wherein once Raghav had established a close connection with it. Mixed emotions started flowing within him as soon as the name of the town echoed inside his brain. He was no longer able to concentrate on the work that he was doing and the thought of revisiting the place urged within him. 

Thanks to the technological development the world has seen now, one's actual presence is not exactly required at any place. You can be virtually connected anywhere from the Arctic to the Antarctica. Well when tools like Google Maps & YouTube depicts most of the places on the earth so accurately and gives a complete virtual tour of even some of the most inaccessible place on the planet, all that you need to do is to sit and relax while the World Wide Web does it magic.

Coming back to the present situation, it was nearly fifteen years now and not even once did he actually think of revisiting that particular place, in person or virtually. So, what was the connection with the town that Raghav had? 

Well in the early 2000's a set of educational institutions blossomed across the state of Tamil Nadu boasting itself of specializing in giving exemplary training for the higher secondary students to excel in their board exams. Their marketing strategy has a serious impact in the houses of many middle class family, not just within the state but with the neighboring states as well. There were many kids who became victim to it and Raghav was one of them. 

(To know more about the life of students in such institution, please visit the actual blog post - https://krish-thefriendly.blogspot.com/2014/03/she-moved-in-but-i-had-moved-out-part-1.html )

However, today when Raghav was viewing his school after fifteen years, none of those painful moments even showed up because all the good memories had actually overshadowed the bad ones. So, when he was looking at each of those buildings from his school, only those fond memories of it were being played at the back of his eyes and he could actually feel himself reliving those moments again.

The hostel wherein he and his roommates used to spend long nights sharing spooky tales, the assembly area where he and Mithun used to take the last row during the yoga session just to evade the direct view of the warden, the playground wherein they used to show off their sporting skills, as it was right close to the girls hostel, the higher secondary academic block where he and his cousin brother used to secretly meet every day and their secret spot on sharing paper chits containing coded information, the main academic block wherein there were individual stairs for boys and girls, the study hall where every morning he used to pretend studying when actually sleeping with the book wide open and Mithun staying guard to alert him in case of the warden coming by at close range and meeting his first crush, the girl who was totally mad on him despite knowing the school rules, all brought in a big smile on his face.

Staying still for a moment at his work desk, he was still not out of the time travel that he just had, wishing how good it would be to actually revive them. Feeling cheerful about travelling down his memory lane, he was amazed knowing how the brain works and the need to encode more and more good memories into it, so as to have a happy retired life.

A life when you sit relaxed with your partner in the balcony of your high-rise apartment overlooking the beautiful mountains of the western ghats and sharing the wonderful moments with her.

Time Flies by!

Dubai, the land of dreams, has never failed to live up to its name. It is one city wherein you find people from all walks of life. Be it the tourists, who fly in to experience the grandeur of this desert nation or be it the white-collar employees, charting out big dreams for their life, or be it the blue collar employees, in the hope of earning some extra cash (in Dirhams) to support their families, back home. So, everyone whom you meet in this city will have a long story, left behind.

And so is one such story, the story of a young teenager, traveling all the way from India into a foreign country for the first time in his life. Never did he expect that even his passport will be stamped one fine day. Every single event that made his journey to Dubai was totally unplanned. What started off as a commitment to keep his relationship intact, ended up losing both the girl he loved and the anticipated B-School of his choice. But, his parents had always believed in him and they had always trusted his moves. It was they who suggested him to fly to Dubai, even though it meant burning their pockets heavily. But, they did not worry about it, as all that they wished was for him to have a new life, a better life, away from home, away from the losses that he suffered, and away from everything.

Classes went on well and so was his urge to learn. Over the past twenty-five years, it was here wherein the urge to study & learn more hit him like a thunder. Of course, he did it pretty well in comparison to the whole batch. And in the company some great people, his life was progressing fine. Days went by, weeks passed on and years flew by, and suddenly today he is still in Dubai, but not as a student anymore. A nice job at a multinational firm has made his schedule busy and engaged. He did understand that the next phase of his life has begun and it was the time for him to move out of the place, which hosted him for two long years; (i.e.) the college hostel.

No more late night studies, assignments, exams, chatting, fighting, gaming, late night walks and finally, preparing spicy Maggi in the middle of the night to feed the starving stomach. When he recollects those memories, a small smile pops up at the end of his lip. And at the same time thinking that there won’t be any more such moments to cherish upon does make him emotional. It is time for him to step out of academic city perimeter and relocate into some cozy neighborhood.

“It feels like yesterday when I first entered Dubai and now I don’t even remember how each day went by”. Time just swept me off my feet and I don’t know how further it will take me, is what dwells in his mind.