Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Change is the other name of life

This post is written for the BLOGESHWAR and Campusghanta.


Samrat had just passed his school and entered in an engineering college. He had never lived away from his parents. It was the first time, he was staying in hostel in MNIT, Allahabad which is far away from his hometown. It was the first time, he had tasted the food of his mess in last 2days. Not only because the food was pathetic but the mess timings were really strict and one cannot get food in nonworking hours. Every time, he missed a meal, he recalls the time when his mother woke him, made the best of the food and fed him properly. He  really find it hard to adjust. Big room at home was replaced by twin sharing hostel room, mother’s call was replaced b y an alarm clock, no more food in odd hours, restrooms are shared by everybody in the hostels. He becomes very homesick and does not like to mix with people. Every fortnight, whether he got a chance or not, he went to home. Time passed, and after spending 1 semester like this, he begun to enjoy the hostel life. He made the friends, watched  late night shows at the theatre, eat outside as much as he wants, sleep till noon without anyone disturbing him. Whenever his college got closed and he went to home, he felt college sick. No late night sleeps, no more night shows, internet was replaced by the tv soaps, junk food was replaced by roti and dal. Time passed like this. He made a lot of friends, got a campus from his college, enjoyed the life as much as he can in all these 4 years, there is hardly an class in final year he attended and hardly any night he had slept in final year. His gang used to sleep during the day time.

Finally, time passed and he joined Capegemini in Mumbai. Life this time was very different. He used to travel 2 hours every day from his flat to his working place. His life become like that. At 6, he woke up, got ready and after changing local 2 times, managed to reach an office at 9. He worked till 6 and finally reaches home at around 8. After having dinner, hardly any energy left to do anything and most of the time, he catches sleep at couch only. Corporate life was very different from his expectations. Time and sleep had now become a priceless luxury. Weekends were also wasted in office work. Alarm clock was now replaced by the constant buzzing of boss’ voice in his ears. Expenses were more than earnings. Pizza in evenings and Vaadapav in the morning was almost become his life. After 6,7 months, when he began to adjust and started enjoying life, his parents started asking him about the marriage. For 2 years, he was successful in making excuses but at the end give up. His parents successfully convinced him. He also thought , how long will he survive on double burst pizza. 


Soon, his status changed from single to married on facebook. After his honeymoon period  is over that lasted for around 1 year, he soon began to think marriage as another shock. He become a football now. Not because of cheese burst pizza but because of regular kicks by his manager and wife. His wife wants him to do shopping on weekends, his boss wants him to work without anybody realizing what he wants. His liberty to stare madly at sexy girls was no more. Movies, these days become very hard to concentrate on. Boss buzzing was now replaced by the early morning scream of her newly born daughter demanding for the milk. 



He was transferred from Mumbai to Delhi and next week, he planned to leave the Mumbai. He was lying amidst the tension of going to new city, transfer of his child in new school, new house and so on. He went deep into the introspection of his life. He thought that such transitions are indispensable part of everybody’s  life and how hard  one can try, he will not escape from them. After all, it is life. Everybody among us face this cultural shocks in day to day life. Some in form of marriages, some in form of job switch, some while transiting from school to college, some while passing through from college to job , some while moving from their hometowns and so on. He thought that change is the only thing constant in our life. So, we should welcome changes and face them as challenges. Without them, life will become too drudgery and monotonous. He spare no excuse to motivate himself. 


He was watching the sky lying on the couch in the balcony. His wife was trying to entertain their daughter. Perhaps, he had fallen into sleep although his eyes were open or just woke up. 


Courtesy: Google Images/http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html



15 comments:

Jessie said...

If you go to a hostel, look forward to meet new links and put on your best cheery face.

Jericho Hostel

Unknown said...

Thanks jaz.

Sarah malik said...

yes..all these happening which are a part of 'natural' life do present as shocks at least initially...but then things smoothens up and life rolls on to present a next set of changes maybe!
btw, good to see u at blogeshwar..good luck for d post :)


sarah

Shubham Jain said...

very well written. It brings my whole life in front of me. I am really able to connect to it and i guess every engineer will able to connect to it.

I think you have ended it abruptly. It seems you have ended the movie in the intermission.

Unknown said...

Thanks Sarah for encouraging me.


Thanks Shubham. I have ended it at this point as afterwards it become difficult to imagine the life.

Nitin said...

Great Work !

Sometimes we become exactly what we hated the most in life.

Witnessed a change very recently, a person turning into the very same monster that they dreaded the most a few days back....

Unknown said...

Thanks Nitin for your precious time.

Your comment encompasses truths of life. Quite deep and true observation.

Manoj Nolkha said...

Nice post. Cultural shock is one separate topic in psychology subject. You have written well about this topic explaining about the most rudiments aspects.

Good one.

Anil S M Ingle said...

I find this article pessimistic written, It is not fervent, don't know why i didn't felt connected. Do you want to portrait change in negative way or in positive, not cleared. Its seem to me, you wrote a good story to connect all the aspect. Congrats for the connecting story

Arun said...

Well written sir !!!

Unknown said...

Thanks Manoj, Anil and Arun.

@ Anil- what i am trying to show is that initially, we did not take the change positively as we are resistance to change but gradually, we accept the change when we realize that we cant escape from it.

Sadiya Merchant said...

dat was a comprehensiv package. its like minor shocks all along n one day u sit baq n get a zor ka jhatka lukin at all d adjustin n helplessness.
tho at sum point i think its all avoidabl. i mean life is wat u mk of it rite?
more often dan not dis happens wen u land up doin sumthin ur nt passionate abt n more dan culture shock i think dats d root problem.
hai na?

n heyyyyy dats a new theme rite? looks grt! :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks Sadiya for sincere reading between the lines. You have caught a very good point. We began to compare the everyday things with cultural shocks more if we are not enjoying our profession.

suraj said...

nicely written, I thought it was a little bit pessimistic, i mean even in some of the most annoying things in life, most people find joy in the little things. and that makes life worth while. a good post.

Unknown said...

Thanks Suraj.

I agree with you that it is bit pessimistic but just before ending the story, i had tried to give it a positive and motivating turn.

Welcome to my blog!!!

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