Having spent the first 18 years of my life in Patna, 13 of which were spent in the same house, I had come to assume that stability is inevitable.
81 Patliputra Colony is where we lived, St. Michael’s High School is where we studied, 72, Patliputra colony is where the Thomases lived, Notre Dame Academy is where the pretty girls were. Those were the parameters that defined the locus of my life within which stability was all pervasive. The contours of life were defined by a never changing set of friends – Harjot, Pranay, Rohit, Fazali, Shupro, Saurabh, Pinku et al, and a set of immovable structures including Co-operative store and Foo Chow..….
Alas, the next 18 years have seen me live in 6 different cities – it would have been average of 3 per location except this includes 2 stints each in Mumbai and Delhi.
First stop outside of Patna was Delhi or should I be specific in saying Delhi University. For 3 years the only parts of Delhi that meant anything were University area (ofcourse extending from Model town to Majnoo Ka Tila) or Greater Kailash where Harjot lived, with Mori Gate and ISBT being the connecting points. From Delhi it was onwards to Ahmedabad, again more specifically Vastrapur or “management” as the auto drivers would recognise it to be…….
The next 11 years have been a whirlwind of packing, moving, unpacking and starting the cycle again…………….The cycle has reached a stage where what seems to represent 'a choice is no more than an inert reproduction of “accepted” practice'.
There have been times Moushumi has reminded me that it made the world suck, but you know what – if the world did not suck, we would all fall off. Even if we did not, I would have more leisure, read as would be unemployed………..
The constant movement from city to city has meant that we have lost any connection with “earth”, hanging in the air, hovering in all directions, without a footprint to show in any place.
As I thought of the title for a blog, I was reminded of one of Jojo’s many famous elocution deliveries, this one went
Departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time
Footprints that perhaps another, sailing over life’s solemn main
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Hence, the title of the blog…………..
