Nostalgia – A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.
The waft of filter coffee, the smell of wet mud, the tunes of A.R.Rahman and a kaleidoscope of emotions, clouding my already confused psyche.
It has been almost 5 whole months since I moved out from the southern part of the peninsula to the north.
It has indeed been an eventful 5 months and I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay. No qualms about it.
Numerous bonds and scores of memories later, Kashipur is finally a place I call my own. A place I will surely look back with nostalgia, few years down the lane.
Yet on this cold November evening, Madras was calling!!
As I was sitting there, drinking in the performance, hitherto unknown or unexpressed emotions rose up and almost overwhelmed me. I was suddenly pining for the streets of my childhood.
What happened ?
I ask myself.
It has been well over a year and a half since I moved out from the city of Madras, as we fondly like to call it. I never knew I had such strong feelings for my city. I have always wanted to live in and experience new places. “Travel the world”, was an oft repeated phrase in my circle and I have always scoffed at demands to settle down.
Yet on this cold November evening, Madras was calling!!
It has been quite sometime, since I have had time to introspect about the direction my life was heading in.
Life at IIM Kashipur was fast and I seldom had the time to think.
Time is a resource that I have learned to value and is something that is always in short supply, over here. Running around from hostel to hostel, from 8 in the morning to 11 in the night. The day really begins only at 11 in the night. Well such is the life that I have become accustomed to over here and miss during the bouts of exam time peace.
In this hectic race against time, I missed out on and forgot my past. I forgot to think, I forgot to contemplate my actions and introspect.
Today as I was sitting mesmerized by the performance, I was transported not only back in time, but space as well, to the sabhas in Mylapore and Alwarpet. Vignettes of my childhood and adolescence flashing in front of me. I was not in Kashipur, I was back home.
I was suddenly feeling wistful for what I left behind.
And, on this cold November evening, Madras was calling!!
PS : Thank you SPIC MACAY IIM Kashipur for taking me home!!
“Chennai is a City, Madras is an Emotion”. Today I realized the truth in these words.
Now back to the grind!!
Business Ethics here I come….
My Discovery of India 