Bangalore ... what the place means to me

I have always been more attached to places than people. Not a nice trait many would say. But then that is how I am. So, here is what I have thought of one of the best places I lived in.

Bangalore... It all started when I got admitted into IISc for the Integrated PhD program. I had truly wanted to stay in India and be a scientist. I did not quite know what scientist meant but I was awed and inspired by it and as most people would agree IISc was the place to be. It would have been an understatement if I said that I was deliriously happy and proud to be part of such a great institute. So, I packed all my belongings in 2 rather small bags and left my home to come to Bangalore. My parents came with me to help me settle in. And then they left. I was all alone. I had always thought that I was not very attached to my family but this was the first time I really missed everybody. I was lonely and scared. Helpless. Come to think of it I was not all that young. I was 20.

Luckily I had friends from college who also came to join the same program. But somehow I was not too out-going, not too friendly in college and I could not expect them to suddenly come and stand by my sides. That night I took a very long bicycle ride in the campus. In the most remote parts of the campus, from where I could not see the gates that lead to the outside, to the train station and then back to my home (some 2000 kms away). I was completely exhausted when I came back.

This was my first day in IISc. The next few days weren't that much better. One of my good friends left IISc and went back to Calcutta. I hated the dim yellow lights that lit up the streets. The campus induced claustrophobia in me.

But something happened. So gradually that I did not notice. But, I surely knew that somethings have changed on my birthday. About 2 months had passed. I was getting used to the campus and all the people in it. But, the thought of spending my birthday away from home made me quite upset. Strangely so. Because my birthday was not celebrated with any pomp and glory at home. But anyway, I was sad and decided to not come back to my hostel room till very late in the night, till I was too tired to be sad that is. I walked in to my room and put the lights on only to see my room completely decked up with streamers and balloons. I heard the complete Int Phd girl's gang singing "Happy Birthday" with a cake and all. The complete shabang. I tell you that was the best birthday I ever had and if you ask me that was the day that I started feeling at home in Bangalore.

I lived in Bangalore for 3 years. Only 3 years. But, those were 3 golden years. I cannot pin-point any one reason why it is so precious to me. I joined the Natok (bengali drama) group and that definitely became like a family to me. Although going on stage was so much fun, it was the group aDDas that mattered the most. The Int Phd girl's gang (only 7 of us), all of us so different from each other became the best of friends. I don't know how that happened. We had fun, we chatted till 4 am and was named the notorious noise makers in the hostel, we celebrated birthdays and V-days and just days, we cried on each others shoulders and occasionally bitched about each other. And amidst all this confusion, we started trusting each other. Then there was a famous trio of friends that I was a part of. I cannot count the number of hours we have spent in TMSC or mess or Gymcafe yakking about everything and nothing. This trio grew into the Hoihoi Sangha with its weekend trips and mess aDDa and numerous Tea board trips throughout the day. The Saturday night Shreyas aDDa which culminated in the night long discussion on life, universe and everything outside the Gymkhana.

This was really the place that made me what I am today. It taught me the real meaning of freedom and the responsibilities that come with it. To be anything I want to be. To be completely self-sufficient. To have dreams. It also taught me the real meaning of friendship and gave me amazing friends that I will always treasure and miss. The strength to miss a lot of things and still move on. The strength to stand up to people and do the right things. It also showed me why I tend to miss places and not people. Because what we think of as places are really the intersection of many people all at the same time and place. And Bangalore gave me the opportunity to interact with the perfect medley of people. It gave me a place to form my own views and the confidence to express them.

In Bangalore, I do not see the glitter of MG Road, I see the quiet shades of the trees in IISc. I do not see the hep IT crowd, I see my friends in their tattered jeans and T-shirts, poor in their attire but not in their dreams. The cool coffee shops and restaurants give way to the coffee board and Tea board and mess with its quite atrocious food.

If Durgapur was the place that nurtured the little girl in me, Bangalore was the place that made me the human being I am.